In their first series against each other since Texas swept the Orioles last October in the American League Division Series, the Orioles have beaten Texas 11-2 and 2-1 the last two nights to begin this four-game series.

After losing five in a row to Houston and Cleveland, the Orioles (52-30) have won their past three games.

During the five losses, Baltimore pitching allowed 40 runs with a team ERA of 7.71 and OPS against of .936 in those games. The team ERA increased from 3.13 to 3.40 for the year.

During the past three wins, Baltimore pitchers have allowed five total runs with a team ERA of 1.67 and a .582 OPS. The team ERA is down to 3.34. That ERA ranks first in the American League and is third-best in the majors behind Philadelphia (3.04) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (3.27).

The O's three-game win streak has come by a combined 17-5 score. The Orioles are now 8-11 in one-run games and, after last night, 3-15 when they score two runs or fewer. They are 28-16 at home and 16-11 in June.

The Texas Rangers were trying to come from two runs down and the wildness of the O’s bullpen gave them a great chance. They had cut the O's 2-0 lead to 2-1 in the seventh inning and a key batter, leadoff hitter Marcus Semien, batted with the bases loaded and two outs.

O’s righty Jacob Webb threw him a 2-2 fastball and he hit it hard toward third base. Ramón Urías, the 2022 American League Gold Glove winner at third base, made a nice play to his backhand side and thew out Semien. The ball was hit 96.5 mph off the bat and Statcast gave it an expected batting average of .530.

But the Rangers were turned away.

In a game the Orioles would go on to win 2-1, it was a solid defensive play. And a key one. Actual batting average on the play was .000.

“Yeah. Big play right there,” Urías said in the postgame clubhouse. “Just tried to stay calm. Know the situation and know your runner and I think the main thing is just stay calm.”

The Orioles' Gunnar Henderson has always been able to impact a game with five tools, and the speed element of that is on greater display during the 2024 season.

He might have to pick up the pace a bit in the stolen-base department, but Henderson has a chance to become the second Oriole - Cedric Mullins did it in 2021 - to hit 30 or more homers and steal at least 30 bases in one season.

Henderson is running more this year, is very comfortable swiping bags and now has a manager willing to give him a green light to go more than ever.

He began last night second in the AL in homers (26), slugging (.618) and OPS (1.005), but also tied for 13^th in the league with 13 steals. He is 13-for-14 this year after stealing 10 bases in 13 attempts all of last year.

Has he just made a concerted effort to run more this year?

They ended the Orioles 2023 season in the American League Division Series with a three-game sweep. Tonight the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers come to Camden Yards to start a four-game set. The stakes are very different in a regular season game after Texas posted wins by 3-2, 11-8 and 7-1 over the Orioles to advance last October.

The teams are having very different seasons as well. The Orioles (50-30) will reach the season's halfway point tonight and are just one game behind the first-place Yankees in the American League East.

The Rangers, who also beat Tampa Bay before last year's AL Division Series and Houston and Arizona after it on their way to the title, are only 37-43 at the 80-game mark. They are in third in the AL West and 7 1/2 games behind division-leading Seattle.

Texas was just swept three straight at Milwaukee by 6-3, 3-1 and 6-5 scores. The Rangers have also lost eight of their past 12 games and are just 8-13 since June 3. The Rangers were 21-16 on May 7, but have gone 16-27 since that point.

The Rangers have also lost six in a row on the road, are 5-16 their past 21 road games and are just 4-10 their past 14 series, home and road.

The Orioles have lost four in a row and been outscored 30-15 during the season's longest losing streak. Cleveland has won six in a row and outscored their opponents 36-14 during their win streak.

After losing their homestand opener 3-2 to Cleveland last night, the O's could use a win tonight, which would end both streaks.

Cleveland's win streak is not even its longest of this year. The Guardians won nine in a row from May 17-26.

At 50-26 (.658), Cleveland has the best win percentage in the American League and leads second-place Minnesota by a season-high eight games in the American League Central. Their record is second-best in the majors to Philadelphia at 52-26 (.667).

The Guardians are 11-6 this year against AL East teams, going 1-2 versus New York, 5-2 against Boston, 4-2 versus Toronto and 1-0 against Baltimore. 

HOUSTON – A recent run of strong starts during an overall good season for right-hander Albert Suárez hit a speed bump in New York a few days ago. Today in Houston, it was quite a bumpy ride again for the hurler who took an ERA of 1.61 into that start at Yankee Stadium.

He allowed three runs and walked five in 3 2/3 innings in the Bronx. He was much more around the plate today, maybe in the zone too much early on as the Astros came out swinging against him.

Houston scored four runs on six hits in the last of the first this afternoon and rode that big inning to a 8-1 win behind 15 hits and a solid outing by left-hander Framber Valdez as they sweep this three-game series.

The O’s hit town riding high, coming off Thursday’s 17-5 victory and series win at Yankee Stadium. They had gone 14-6 the previous 20 games with series wins over the Rays, Braves, Phillies and Yankees but didn’t win once this weekend at Minute Maid Park.

At 49-28, they are swept for the second time this year (also May 20-22 at St. Louis) and head home to host Cleveland on Monday night.

HOUSTON - After their series win at Yankee Stadium produced such good vides, the game of baseball struck back at the Orioles this weekend in Houston. They were 11 runs behind on Friday night and held to one run and four hits Saturday as they lost by 14-11 and 5-1 scores.

The Orioles (49-27) were not swept for 106 consecutive regular-season series, a run that ended when they were swept last month at St. Louis. A loss today and they will have been swept twice in the past 10 series.

Between the two series they played very good baseball, going 4-0 in Chicago against the White Sox, 2-1 in each of two home series versus Boston and Tampa Bay, and then 2-2 in Toronto and 4-0 at Tampa Bay. The club then went 2-1 against Atlanta and Philadelphia and in New York against the Yankees.

They went 7-0-1 in eight series since St. Louis but need a win today to avoid their second 0-3 series of the year.

The Orioles had scored 28 runs in two games, 35 in three and 51 in their past six until they were shut down by righty Ronel Blanco and two relievers on Saturday.

HOUSTON – As the Orioles look to salvage one game in their three-game series at Houston and avoid being swept today, they face a tough lefty in Houston’s Framber Valdez (5-5, 3.91 ERA).

He finished 11^th for the American League Cy Young Award in 2020, was fifth in 2022 and ninth last year.

In these past two years he has gone 29-17 with a 3.13 ERA over 399 1/3 innings. But in those two years, as he has had high Cy Young vote finishes, he faced the Orioles once each season and they fared well against him. In the two games, they scored 13 runs off Valdez (10 earned) in a combined 12 1/3 innings.

In an interview with local media today, O’s offensive strategy coach Cody Asche talked about the challenge of facing Valdez today and how the O’s batters might approach it.

“I think a lot of our guys will kind of lean on their experiences last year," he said. " I thought we had really good at-bats last year at Camden. And I think even two years ago, we kind of ended that quality-starts streak against him.

HOUSTON – When Orioles right-hander Albert Suárez took the mound to face the New York Yankees on Tuesday night, he was a pitcher on a real roll.

He was 3-0 with a 1.61 ERA and had an ERA of 1.08 over his previous nine games. He had been big for the Orioles, both out of the bullpen and in the rotation.

But that night in the Bronx was not his normal day.

He walked five Yankees and gave up three runs over 3 2/3 innings as the Orioles lost the series opener. It was his shortest start of the season and a season high in walks.

As he got ready to make his next start, which comes today at Houston, Suárez felt what went wrong in that game in New York can be a quick fix.

HOUSTON - Coming off a 14-11 loss Friday in which O's pitching allowed a season-high 14 runs and saw its team ERA jump from 3.13 to 3.28, it's a good time today to send their ace pitcher to the mound. 

They do just that as right-hander Corbin Burnes (8-2, 2.14 ERA) makes his 16th start. Burnes begins today tied for first in the American League in ERA with Boston's Tanner Houck.

But heading into this outing, Burnes has a streak of 10 straight quality starts riding. In that span he is 5-2 with a 1.85 ERA and .561 OPS against since April 26.

The Orioles are 11-4 when Burnes starts, winning his last six games in a row.

In his past four games Burnes has allowed, in order, zero, one, zero and two earned runs. In those games he is 4-0 with a 1.00 ERA and a .190 batting average against.

HOUSTON – Today in Game 2 of this series for the Orioles at Houston a hot offense meets a pitcher having a big year.

Right-hander Ronel Blanco (7-2, 2.43 ERA), who pitched a no-hitter April 1 and who threw seven no-hit innings in his last start pitches for Houston. Righty Corbin Burnes (8-2, 2.14 ERA) starts for Baltimore. 

Blanco will face a Baltimore lineup that has scored 28 runs the last two games, 35 the past three and 51 in the last six. An attack that leads the major leagues in homers, extra-base hits and slugging while scoring 5.35 runs per game.

“Blanco is one of those great major league baseball stories that we are fortunate to have in our game," said O's manager Brandon Hyde. "Guy has come out of nowhere a little bit and threw that no-hitter early in the year. He’s been pitching like an All-Star." 

Blanco has allowed just 44 hits in his 77 2/3 innings for a .164 opponent batting average, which is the best in the American League. He also ranks second in opponent OPS (.544), third in slugging against (.294), and fourth in ERA (minimum of 70 innings pitched).

HOUSTON – Outfielder Colton Cowser is returning home this weekend as the Orioles play at Houston's Minute Maid Park. It’s a ballpark he has been in as both a fan and a player.

“Feels like home. Hot,” he said Friday afternoon in the Baltimore clubhouse.

Born in Houston, Cowser still lives in the area. He attended Cypress Ranch High School in Cypress, Texas, about 26 miles northwest of Houston and led his team to the 6A state playoffs as a senior in 2018. He played his college ball at Sam Houston State, which is about 68 miles north of Houston.

A few local TV reporters wanted to talk with him yesterday ahead of the series opener. Cowser estimates he saw about 30 games in Minute Maid Park over the years.

“Lots of memories coming to this ballpark growing up," he said. "Came to a lot of games and really cool, really excited. My mom, talked to her last night and my parents are excited.

It's going to be an exciting weekend of baseball in Baltimore. Big crowds - sellout crowds expected for at least two of the three games between the Orioles (45-23) and the Philadelphia Phillies (46-22). It is the start of a six-game stretch featuring three each with the Phillies and Yankees with an off-day on Monday.

While Baltimore and Philadelphia are separated by just one game, the Phillies lead the National League East by nine games over the Atlanta Braves. The Orioles are in second in the American League East, and are 2 1/2 games behind the Yankees.

New York (49-22, .690) has the best record in the majors with Philadelphia second (.676), the Orioles third (.662) and Cleveland fourth (.652).

The Orioles lost the series finale to Atlanta 6-3 on Thursday. But they have won six of the last seven, 11 of 15 and 16 of their past 21 games. They are 23-12 at home and their pitching recently allowed just nine runs during a six-game win streak.

A stat sheet can show us some key reasons that the Orioles, Yankees and Phillies are three of baseball's best to this point.

The Orioles have five series sweeps this year, three of three games and two sweeps of four-game series. They look to add their latest sweep today.

After 4-0 and 4-2 wins over Atlanta (35-30), the Orioles (45-22) can sweep this series this afternoon at Oriole Park.

With last night's win the Orioles are 26-27 all-time versus the Braves in interleague play since 1997. 

Atlanta has lost five in a row and 12 of its past 18 games. Since starting the year at 26-13, the Braves are 9-17.

Atlanta now has what is for them a very rare five-game losing streak. In fact, the Braves have lost five straight games in a single season for the first time since losing six in a row from Sept. 25-30, 2017. The 934-game streak without dropping five straight games was the second-longest of its kind in major league history, per the Elias Sports Bureau.

After an eight-game road trip – ending with a four-game sweep in St. Petersburg against Tampa Bay and a 6-2 record – the Orioles' next homestand begins tonight. 

It will be a challenging one as they face Atlanta (35-28) and Philadelphia (45-20)- the clubs with the fourth-best and best records in the National League.

This year the Orioles are 8-9 versus National League teams, going 2-3-1 in those series. In order, they went 1-2 at Pittsburgh and then 2-1 at home against Milwaukee. They were 3-0 at Cincinnati and 1-1 at Washington. They were 2-1 in Baltimore against Arizona and 0-3 at St. Louis.

The Orioles improved to 6-1 this season against Tampa Bay with their four-game sweep, their first-ever four-game road sweep of the Rays. Baltimore won those games by a combined 25-7 score. The O's produced 42 hits, including eight doubles, four triples and nine home runs. In their past 10 games they have hit 25 homers, including hitting two or more eight times. They are 30-4 in 2024 when hitting two or more home runs.

With their earlier four-game sweep of the Chicago White Sox, the Orioles have two four-game sweeps in one season for the first time since 1987. The Tampa Bay sweep was their fifth this season of three games or more.

After a satisfying win in the series-opener on Friday night - they hit well with three more homers and pitched well, allowing just two earned runs - the Orioles look for another win this afternoon against the Tampa Bay Rays.

In the latest solid outing for Baltimore pitchers, lefty Cole Irvin allowed two earned runs over 5 2/3 innings on 85 pitches. He is now 6-2 with a 2.87 ERA. Irvin now has enough innings to qualify for the American League leaders, and he ranks 10th in the AL in ERA while teammate Corbin Burnes is fifth at 2.26.

To qualify, a pitcher needs one inning per team game, so with the O's having played 62 games, Irvin just makes it today with 62 2/3.

The Orioles' team ERA is now 3.27, second-best in the American League and fourth-best in the majors.

The O's are really on a pitching roll over the past 35 games, with a team ERA of 2.80 that is third in the majors in that span behind the Yankees (2.51) and Phillies (2.55). The O's are 23-12 in this stretch of games.

It was the starting pitching performance that had manager Brandon Hyde raving about his right-hander after the game in Toronto and even more the next day.

It was the work on Monday night of Grayson Rodriguez against the Blue Jays. And not because he blew hitters away or piled up strikeouts, or put up a scoreless outing, but because he got outs quickly. He was both good and very pitch-efficient.

Rodriguez went 6 2/3 innings at Rogers Centre, allowing seven hits and one earned run, a very solid outing with no walks and four strikeouts on 86 pitches. He was pitch-efficient especially early on that game, throwing 10 pitches in the first, 13 in the second and 13 more in the third inning to get his day started, needing just 36 pitches through three.

The skipper was a big fan of that outing.

“For me, he has taken enormous strides forward," Hyde said of Rodriguez. "Just from his fastball command, understanding how to pitch. You know the early, weak contact was just fantastic. He pitched with his fastball commanding it, not just overpowering people. You didn’t see 98 to 100 (mph), but he was throwing the ball where he wanted to with plenty of fastball. He is really starting to understand how to pitch and set up hitters to get guys early in the count to allow himself to go deeper in the game.

TORONTO – Lefty Cade Povich’s big league debut began in fine fashion on a sunny afternoon in downtown Toronto. He retired the first three batters he faced on just nine pitches. He fanned his first batter, left fielder Davis Schneider, swinging at an elevated 92 mph fastball.

Facing a Toronto Blue Jays lineup not as feared as it once was, Povich - ranked as the Orioles No. 8 prospect by Baseball America (and No. 99 in a new top 100) and No. 9 by MLBPipeline.com - put up a zero in the Blue Jays’ second as well.

But a pitcher who improved his walk rate this year with Triple-A Norfolk issued two free passes in the third inning. And then one pitch featuring some good hitting cost him in a game that ended in a 6-5 Toronto win.

First baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. got a 1-0 backdoor cutter on the outside corner and hit that ball where it was pitched. His three-run homer to right started the scoring today in front of 39,215 at Rogers Centre.

After the game Povich got props from his manager and the clubhouse for showing poise. They realized that four runs came via a 350-foot homer and a bloop, and that two more scored after he left the game.

TORONTO - O's fans get to see a major league debut today as lefty Cade Povich gets the start for the Orioles in the fourth and final game of their series in Toronto.

Povich has gone 5-1 with a 3.18 ERA in 11 Triple-A starts this season with Norfolk. Over 56 2/3 innings he has allowed 42 hits, including five home runs, and recorded 21 walks and 75 strikeouts for a 3.3 walk rate and 11.9 K rate. He has given up 1.11 WHIP and a .203 opponent average with the Tides.

Povich, originally a third-round pick by Minnesota in the 2021 MLB Draft out of Nebraska, got off to a great start to his 2024 season. In five April starts with Norfolk, he was 2-1 with a 1.03 ERA and 0.76 WHIP.

He took a 2.35 ERA into his most recent start Friday versus Gwinnett, but allowed a season-high six runs on four hits over three innings in easily his poorest start of this season.

But he is one of the club’s top pitching prospects and ranked No. 8 on the O’s top 30 by Baseball America, and No. 9 via MLBPipeline.com.

TORONTO – Reporters' daily interest about the upcoming Orioles rotation naturally led to questions about what that rotation could look like for the upcoming Tampa Bay series. Manager Brandon Hyde today said that, as of now, the Orioles are yet to be determined for that entire series, which begins Friday night in St. Petersburg.

But he also, when asked, made an important clarification today on right-hander Kyle Bradish, whose next start is being pushed back. We don’t know when it will be. But Hyde was asked whether that move is simply more about extra rest or about physical concerns.

“Just extra rest,” said Hyde.

When asked if Bradish will skip a start, Hyde said, “We’re TBA. Any more questions on that?” he said with a laugh. But who could blame him for tiring of the constant media inquiries about who is pitching next?

Hyde also said yesterday that there may be several instances during this stretch of 30 games in 31 days when the club's upcoming rotation is to be announced at some future time.