Behind improved pitching and the ability to pull out some close games, the Orioles have crafted a five-game winning streak. They try to extend that tonight in the second game of a four-game series versus the Los Angeles Angels.

Jordan Lyles allowed just one run over six innings and Adley Rutschman hit his fourth big league homer and first at Camden Yards in Thursday’s 4-1 win. O’s pitchers held the Angels to six hits, and the O’s five-game win streak has come by eight total runs.

It is their longest win streak since they took six in a row from Aug. 7-13, 2020.

The Orioles have now moved within four games of the .500 mark (40-44) by winning 10 of their last 15 games and 16 of 25. They are 19-14 since June 1 and 33-30 since May 1. They are now 22-17 at home and are 9-3 in their past 12 games at the Yard.

The Angels (38-46) have tied a season low at eight games under the .500 mark after losing the series opener. They have lost five of six and 10 of 15 games. They went 4-2 versus the Orioles last season but are 1-3 this year in the season series.

After completing their first three-game series sweep of the season on Wednesday night, the Orioles welcome the Los Angeles Angels to town tonight to begin a four-game series to wrap up a seven-game homestand.

The homestand has started quite well for the Orioles, who, after recording 10-inning walk-off wins on Monday and Tuesday, beat Texas 2-1 last night, holding the Rangers to six hits as the O’s completed the sweep, winning each game by one run.

The Orioles' last six games have been decided by seven total runs. They lost the first two of this stretch via walk-off losses in Minnesota, and now have won the last four.

The Orioles (39-44) are playing .470 baseball and on a pace to finish the 2022 season going 76-86. They have won nine of the last 14 and 15 of 24 games. They are 18-14 since June 1 and 32-30 since May 1. They improved to 21-17 at home.

The Orioles recorded a three-game sweep for the first time since July 23-25, 2021 versus Washington, and they have now won eight of their last 11 games at Oriole Park. They have matched a season long with four consecutive wins. The O’s swept the Rangers in a series for the first time since July 17-20, 2017, when the O’s took all four games at Oriole Park.

It was a father and son sitting together in a baseball stadium. But these weren't just any two men. It was the interim manager of the Los Angeles Angels Phil Nevin sitting next to his son Tyler, an Orioles infielder. Tonight as the elder Nevin continues to serve a suspension he will get a rare treat. The ability to watch his son’s big league game.

His 10-game suspension will end Saturday and then he will manage against his son’s Orioles team. Today father and son talked about what figures to be a very, very special next four days for the Nevin family.

The last time the dad saw the son play a pro game Tyler was playing in Hartford, Conn., in 2019 in Double-A and his dad was a Yankees coach and drove two hours to see part of a game. He saw five or six of Tyler's games that year.

“It’s special,” Phil Nevin said sitting next to his son in the O’s dugout earlier. “You really have to ask me some questions after Saturday’s game as I really have no idea what to expect. We were meeting with the staff earlier and going over some things we normally do (to prepare) for the game and I got to his name and I didn’t even know what to call him. I finally said Nevin and the whole room laughed. So, it will be different. Tonight, tomorrow, just being able to watch him play a big league game if he gets in there would be special for any parent, right? Unfortunately, I have to watch it from upstairs, but maybe this is how it is all supposed to be.”

So how will dad try to get son out if he comes up in a key spot?

We are now less than two weeks away from the First-Year Player Draft, where for the third time in draft history the Orioles will have the No. 1 overall pick. They selected pitcher Ben McDonald out of LSU No. 1 in 1989 and catcher Adley Rutschman No. 1 out of Oregon State in 2019.

Now for the second time in four drafts, they again pick 1/1.

Here are the latest top five player draft rankings, which includes four high school players at the top, by MLBPipeline.com:

* No. 1 – Georgia high school outfielder Druw Jones. He is the son of five-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove winner Andruw Jones. The 18-year-old Jones gets 70 tool grades for running and fielding, and he could grow into plus power, too.

* No. 2 – Oklahoma high school shortstop Jackson Holliday. Yes, another son of a famous father, his dad is a seven-time All-Star outfielder. The younger Holliday has an impressive advanced hitting approach, and added size and strength this year.

The Orioles (38-44) have not had a three-game series sweep this season, and after back-to-back walk-off wins over the Texas Rangers, they can get one with a victory tonight at Oriole Park.

Cedric Mullins' RBI double in the 10th last night lifted the Orioles over Texas 10-9 in a wild one. The victory improved the Orioles' record to 20-17 at home and to 6-3 in extra-inning games.

Most walk-off wins in the major leagues in 2022:

10 - New York Yankees
7 - Orioles
6 - San Diego
5 - Tampa Bay, Minnesota

The Orioles have now secured the series win versus Texas and have gone 11-11-4 in series this season and 7-4-2 in home series. They've already surpassed their home series win total from 2021, when they went 5-15-6 at Oriole Park. And now they are one series win shy of tying their overall total from last season, when they went 12-32-8.

The Orioles have seven walk-off wins – the latest was by 10-9 in 10 innings last night over the Texas Rangers – but they have no series sweeps this season. They’d be happy to add to either total tonight, but you know manager Brandon Hyde would not mind a much more routine win that didn’t require a walk-off or a lot of late-inning drama.

But last night’s game had both. So did Monday’s game and each one in Minnesota too. The club has now played five straight games decided by six total runs, and four of the five were decided in the final at-bat by the home team. Two they lost, two they won.

If you like down-to-the-wire baseball, the Orioles' recent run has been for you.

The last two nights they were down to their last out in the last of the ninth and down by a run. An out from a loss each time, before an Adley Rutschman RBI double on Monday and Rougned Odor’s solo homer last night extended each game to the tenth inning.

The Orioles (38-44) are now 6-3 in extra-inning games, 20-17 at home, 12-15 in one-run games and 7-4 in games decided via a walk-off, winning seven times and losing four. They have had walk-off wins this year via a walk, error, fielder’s choice, hit-by-pitch and twice by home runs.

A team’s fortunes can change fast in baseball, and the Orioles are realizing that this week. When they hit five homers and beat Seattle 9-2 Monday night, they improved to 4-1 on this road trip and moved to within five games of the .500 mark. The next night they were locked in a 0-0 game in the eighth inning at Seattle. They would lose that game 2-0 and then fall in the series finale the next day at Seattle.

Then it was on to Minnesota to face the first-place Twins. In each of the first two games there, the Orioles have taken a one-run lead to the last of the ninth. And while they were 29-0 when leading after eight innings when this series began, now they have lost back-to-back in the last of the ninth in a pair of walk-off defeats at Minnesota.

Now the Orioles (35-44) are reeling with four straight losses and five in the last six games. They need to win today to avoid being swept in this series and to complete a .500, 5-5 road trip. One that started with such promise at 4-1 halfway through it.

But closer Jorge López has suffered back-to-back blown saves and the Orioles have lost two games in a row by one run for just the second time this season.

The O’s offense has had its own issues during the losing streak, scoring just eight runs on 20 hits the last four games and going 2-for-26 batting with runners in scoring position.

Maybe he’s been flying a bit under the radar on the O's farm, but right-hander Noah Denoyer should not be. He pitched well earlier this season for high Single-A Aberdeen and is now doing so for Double-A Bowie. In fact, he has been pitching well pretty much since the day the Orioles signed him as a minor league free agent on Aug. 5, 2019.

For a pitcher who was not drafted, his stats compare well right now to some of the best pitchers for the Orioles' minor league affiliates.

In 14 games this season between Aberdeen and Bowie, he is 4-1 with a 1.93 ERA. Over 51 1/3 innings he has allowed 33 hits and 11 walks while notching 66 strikeouts. He has yielded just a .183 opponent batting average and 0.86 WHIP.

Among O’s minor league pitchers throwing 40 or more innings this season, his ERA ranks first in the organization, and he is second in WHIP (to Grayson Rodriguez) and fifth in strikeouts per nine innings at 11.57.

In the 2021 season, Denoyer was also good, going 5-3 with a 2.76 ERA between low Single-A Delmarva and Aberdeen. He started this year with the IronBirds, going 4-0 with a 2.40 ERA in five games. He had not been starting but throwing multiple-innings in relief, but then he made a start for Bowie on Friday night. Over five innings against Richmond he allowed four hits and two runs (one earned) on 79 pitches. It looks for now like he is in the Bowie rotation to stay.

When it comes to their preference for the first pick in the upcoming First-Year Player Draft, the Orioles, as always under Mike Elias, will not be tipping their hand on which player or players they prefer. The consensus seems to be they are working with a short list of five for that No. 1 overall pick on July 17, two weeks from tomorrow.

Baseball America’s top five for the draft shows Georgia high school outfielder Druw Jones No. 1 on their board, followed by Cal Poly shortstop Brooks Lee and Oklahoma high school shortstop Jackson Holliday. Then they have Atlanta high school star infielder Termarr Johnson rated fourth and outfielder Elijah Green of IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., at No. 5.

Elias' top picks in his first three drafts with the Orioles started with his selection of Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman at No. 1 in 2019. The next year he selected University of Arkansas outfielder Heston Kjerstad No. 2 overall, and last summer he tabbed Sam Houston State outfielder Colton Cowser at No. 5 overall.

The selection for this year will join Ben McDonald in 1989 and Rutschman as the third 1/1 pick by the Orioles in club history.

During a recent interview on WBAL Radio’s “Orioles Insider” pregame show with Brent Harris, Keith Law of The Athletic discussed how the Orioles play it very close to the vest in the lead-up to the draft.

After taking three of four games in Chicago and splitting games the last two nights in Seattle, the Orioles and Mariners play the third and deciding game of their series this afternoon at T-Mobile Park.

The Orioles hit five homers on Monday night as they won 9-2 over the Mariners, but then they were held to just one hit on Tuesday night in a 2-0 loss.

The Orioles (35-41) are 7-4 in rubber match games as they play yet another such game today. Overall, they are 4-2 on this road trip and 17-24 on the road for the season. They have gone 11-8 in their past 19 road games. They have won five of seven games overall and also six of nine and eight of their past 12 games. They are 11-6 over the last 17, 13-9 in 22 games and 21-17 over 38 games since May 19.

The O’s lost Tuesday while giving up just two runs, and they’ve allowed two runs or fewer in nine of their past 12 games with a team ERA of 2.01 in that span. O’s pitchers have allowed 11 runs the past seven games, 15 in nine and 24 runs in the past dozen games.

Baltimore starting pitchers have a 1.54 ERA (8 ER/46.2 IP) over the last nine games after Dean Kremer threw seven scoreless innings Tuesday. In allowing two runs last night the Baltimore bullpen saw a 13-game streak snapped in which the ‘pen allowed one earned run or none. The O’s bullpen ERA is 1.69 (9 ER/48 IP) over the last 14 games.

After taking three of four games at Chicago, the Orioles' road trip moves on to Seattle tonight for the first of a three-game series. A win would give the O’s a big leg up on another series victory and a winning road trip, and would also clinch a winning month for the Orioles for the first time in nearly five years.

They are 13-10 in June, outscoring their opponents 112-94 (+18). They need one win in their next three games to clinch their first winning month since August 2017, when they went 17-12. The Orioles have secured their first .500 month since July 2019 (12-12).

The Orioles took two out of three games the last time they visited the Mariners, from May 3-5, 2021. And the last time they played in Seattle, on May 5, 2021, left-hander John Means threw the sixth no-hitter in Orioles history in a 6-0 victory at T-Mobile Park. It was the first Orioles no-hitter since a combined effort by Bob Milacki, Mike Flanagan, Mark Williamson and Gregg Olson on July 13, 1991 at Oakland, and the first individual, complete-game no-hitter by an Orioles pitcher since Jim Palmer on Aug. 13, 1969 versus Oakland.

O’s batters struck out 16 times in Sunday’s 4-3 loss to the White Sox, which kept the O’s from completing a four-game sweep. The Orioles had a four-game win streak end in that loss, their longest winning streak in a single season since they won four in a row from Sept. 4 (in the second game of a doubleheader) through 8, 2020, and their longest overall since winning four in a row from Sept. 27, 2020 to April 4, 2021.

Over their streak, O’s pitchers owned a 0.55 ERA (two earned runs over 33.0 inning pitched), their first time holding their opponents to two earned runs or fewer over a four-game span since June 5-8, 2016 (2 ER/36.0 IP). And the Orioles are one of six teams to limit opponents to only two earned runs in a four-game stretch this season, along with the Boston Red Sox, Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees and San Diego Padres.

After posting wins by 4-0 and 4-1 the last two nights, the Orioles look for another victory in Chicago against the White Sox this afternoon. The game is expected to start late due to rain, and no official start time has been announced as of this writing.

A win would give the Orioles (33-39) both a series victory and a four-game winning streak for the first time this season. At 33-39 they are playing .458 ball, which projects to a final record of 74-88 over 162 games.

With Friday’s win the O’s have won three in a row, four of five, six of eight and nine of their past 13 games. Over the last 18 games, they are 11-7 and are 19-15 since May 19, when they were 10 games under the .500 mark.

Since going 7-14 in April, the Orioles are 14-16 in May and now 12-9 in June for a combined 26-25 record since May 1. With five games left this month, the Orioles need to go 2-3 or better to post their first winning month since August 2017.

The Orioles are 14-11 in their last 25 games. The last time the team won 14 in a 25-game stretch in a single season was from Aug. 12 to Sept. 8, 2017. When the Orioles last had a winning month, they finished 17-12 in August 2017. Their last month with a .500 record was July 2019 at 12-12.

He is one of baseball’s best pitching prospects, lefty DL Hall of the Triple-A Norfolk Tides, the Orioles top draft pick from 2017. They selected the lefty from a Georgia high school No. 21 overall and now he is on the doorstep of the majors. But when he'll take that next big step is the question now for the Orioles as Hall closes in.

Perhaps his latest outing on Tuesday at Lehigh Valley showed us both reasons to go get Hall and reasons why more time on the farm would also not be a bad thing for the 23-year-old hurler.

Through nine Triple-A starts, Hall is 1-2 with a 3.86 ERA over 35 innings, which is already a few more innings than he threw in seven 2021 starts with Double-A Bowie. He has allowed 27 hits with 23 walks while getting 57 strikeouts, recording a .206 batting average against and 1.43 WHIP.

That WHIP number is a bit of a challenge right now, as are the walks. In Tuesday’s outing, Hall threw a season-high 92 pitches but cleared just 4 1/3 innings. He allowed four hits and five runs, just two earned, and recorded five walks and three strikeouts. In his two previous outings he has walked five and fanned 17 over nine combined innings. The strike-throwing ratio took a step back on Tuesday night.

Before Hall's start on Tuesday, Norfolk Triple-A pitching coach Justin Ramsey, who is spending time right now helping the O’s staff, said Hall had indeed made some gains in this department this year.

After being shut out 3-0 on Tuesday night in Baltimore, the Orioles need a win at home tonight versus the Washington Nationals to split this two-game interleague series. And they turn to their hottest starting pitcher to get it done.

The Orioles have won four consecutive starts made by right-hander Tyler Wells (4-4, 3.62 ERA) and he has recorded three quality starts in that span, including in his last two games. Over this four-start stretch, Wells is 3-0 with a 2.45 ERA, allowing six runs and 14 hits in 22 innings. He has thrown 88, 62, 84 and 86 pitches in those games, allowing a batting average against of .180 and a .597 OPS.

In his most recent start, Wells limited Toronto to one run and five hits over six innings last Thursday afternoon at Rogers Centre, and he won his battle with Toronto right-hander Kevin Gausman. The Orioles scored six runs in the third inning that afternoon to provide him an early 7-0 lead, and Wells told us after that game how he approached having such a big lead to work with.

“Honestly, whenever you get a big lead like that it’s easy to kind of say you can sit back, relax and breathe,” he said in Toronto. “The way that I try to trick myself into thinking, I try to make sure that I am more intense, more focused than I was before. It’s great to have big innings, and the guys absolutely crushed out there today, but it’s also just as important to have a shutdown inning. Trying to stay intense with my focus and getting into that next inning and being able to shut it down is also important.” 

He did that, for sure, producing his fourth career quality start. At the end of that game the Orioles had just three quality starts in their previous 22 games, and Wells had been the pitcher for all three.

At a time when Austin Hays and Ryan Mountcastle have been two of the Orioles most productive hitters, they are showing an ability to hit in the clutch, too. They keep coming up with big hits in key spots, both early and late in games. They are doing damage and doing it in some of the biggest moments of the game.

It may be yet another step in the development of the young hitters.

Through 62 games, Hays is batting .280/.342/.456/.798 with 15 doubles, nine homers and a team-high 37 RBIs. He has an OPS of .797 at home and .798 on the road. Mountcastle has hit .269/.307/.480/.787 with 11 doubles, 12 homers and 36 RBIs. He went hitless Sunday to end an eight-game hitting streak during which he hit .400 with an .857 OPS. His OPS was 1.072 in June through Saturday’s games.

Hays is batting .302 with runners in scoring position, along with an OPS of .860 with RISP. For him it comes down to knowing one important fact – in big spots late in games, it's the pitcher who's in more trouble.

“It goes hand and hand with however is on the mound,” he said over the weekend about hitting in the clutch. “I feel like pitchers tend to make more mistakes in tighter situations in games. I don’t know if they are afraid to make a mistake or are trying to do too much. But for me personally, I feel like I get more good pitches to hit and more mistakes in clutch situations of games. And I just really try to lock in on not chasing pitches out of the zone and making those pitchers make a mistake. I feel like if I wait them out they are bound to make one.

O’s manager Brandon Hyde went to closer Jorge López again Friday night for a save of more than three outs, and once again his right-hander was fully up to the task. López got the final out of the eighth and three outs in the ninth for his 10^th save and recorded all four outs on strikeouts, the last with a 98 mph fastball that he threw past Brett Phillips. He protected yet another one-run lead.

Hyde would rather not have to call on López to do such heavy lifting. But he got the job done again. And his five saves of more than one inning put him in a tie with Pittsburgh’s David Bednar for the most in the majors.

“Prefer not to,” said Hyde before Saturday’s game. “Feel like we get two outs in the eighth and there is a big spot and I’ve got a right-hander coming up and Lopie is the best for me. Not the ideal way. But, because of the way he has pitched in the past, he’s not been a one-inning guy; he’s been a starter. He likes going multiple innings; I think that is important also. He wants the ball, and he wants the ball in that spot. He’s done amazing with it.

“Not every closer, ninth-inning guy, or high-leverage guy is like that. That is why Lopie is a little bit unique for me. He can give you a five-out, four outs, six outs, when he is your best option against the middle of the order or in a big spot in the game. When the game is on the line. Because of the pitch mix and he is used to pitching multiple innings.”

López has not allowed an earned run in his last 11 appearances, covering 14 innings. He has recorded a save in four of his past six outings, and 23 of his 28 outings have been scoreless. His 0.82 ERA ranks second among all pitchers (with a minimum of 30 innings).

Could it be that the Orioles are catching the Tampa Bay Rays at the right time? We rarely have had even a chance to say that the last few seasons about this Tampa Bay team that has made the playoffs three straight year and has won the American League East the last two seasons. The Rays won 100 games in 2021.

But they come to town after losing 2-1 last night at New York, and they were swept three straight in that series at Yankee Stadium and have lost five of six games on a trip to Minnesota and New York. Now it's on to Baltimore. The Rays lost the first two games to the Yankees by scores of 2-0 and 4-3.

Tampa Bay is 35-28 for the year and has dropped to third place in the AL East, 12 games back of New York, but is just 4-7 over the last 11 games. Since the Rays started the year going 18-10 in early May, they are 17-18. The Rays are 10-9 in AL East games, but have lost seven of their last 10 within the division. The Rays are just 2-4-2 their past eight series and are 2-7 in road series-opening games.

So yeah, maybe it is a good time to play the Rays. We’ll see about that starting tonight.

The Orioles (28-37) got swept in a season-opening series at Tropicana Field. But they won a series against Tampa Bay May 20-22 in Baltimore, winning twice in extra-inning walk-offs. In the first game of that series, the Orioles won 8-6 in the 13^th inning when Rougned Odor hit a two-run homer. In the last game, they won 7-6 in 11 innings on Odor’s fielder’s choice grounder that was misplayed at first base.

TORONTO – Don’t look now but the Orioles may slowly be making some gains on their American League East opponents. Not in the standings yet – as they're still in last place – but they're making gains in head-to-head competition.

Through the season’s first 65 games, the Orioles have already won or tied series with every AL East club – the Yankees, Red Sox, Rays and Blue Jays.

The Orioles have won one series against New York, two against Boston and one against Tampa Bay. And Thursday’s 10-2 win at Rogers Centre, once a house of horrors for the Orioles, gave them a four-game split with Toronto.

In fact the Orioles are 9-7 in their last 16 AL East games. They are 13-18 (.419) overall for the year versus the AL East after going 20-56 (.263) last year. The Orioles are 4-9 versus the Yankees, but are 9-9 combined against the rest of division. They are 5-3 against Boston, 2-2 versus Toronto and 2-4 against Tampa Bay. They are 1-3 in series versus New York, but 3-1-1 in their other five AL East series.

Before the game Thursday, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde talked about the club’s more competitive play within the division.

TORONTO – It was the night when Adley Rutschman hit his first career homer and Ryan Mountcastle hit two longballs. The Orioles rallied from five runs down to tie the game. It was set up to be a huge comeback win. But the Orioles instead absorbed a 7-6 walk-off loss at Toronto.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. continued to torment O’s pitching with a 116 mph single into left field in the 10th inning to end the game. It was his fourth hit of the night, his first career walk-off RBI and third career four-hit game.

Some notes and quotes on the third game of this series, which Toronto now leads 2-1.

He got to wear the chain: Starting to swing the bat better and with a 5-for-18 mark over his last five games with three doubles coming into the night, Rutschman went deep for the first time in the majors.

Blue Jays right-hander José Berríos gave up just one hit over the first six innings, and it was Rutschman’s drive to right-center in the fourth that went the distance. It was a two-run shot that cut the O’s deficit to 5-2. Rutschman would later double for his fourth multi-hit game of the year and his second game with two extra-base hits.

TORONTO – He may not have put up stats as he did earlier in the year, but right-hander Jordan Lyles got his team off to a good pitching start tonight. And then his offense scored in four straight at-bats to back him. Ryan Mountcastle and Austin Hays homered as the Orioles beat Toronto 6-5 to even this four-game series at a victory for each club.

The Orioles (27-36) improved to 3-3 on this road trip and to 6-5 in their last 11 road games. They are 12-17 on the year versus American League East clubs, but are 8-6 in their past 14 division games.

Lyles allowed four runs and five hits over 5 1/3 innings to improve to 4-5 with a 5.10 ERA. He has an ERA of 5.08 in eight starts within the division this season.

Jorge López got the last five outs and did some big-time heavy lifting again. It was his fourth save of the year of more than one inning. He got Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Teoscar Hernández in order in the last of the ninth. 

The Orioles broke the early scoreless tie when Mountcastle went opposite field with his 10^th homer of the year in the Baltimore third. That provided a 2-0 lead, scoring Richie Martin, who had walked. Mountcastle hit a 1-0 fastball 396 feet with an exit velocity of 106. And Toronto lefty Yusei Kikuchi, who had given up seven runs over 5 1/3 his past two starts, was behind in the third tonight.