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.

TORONTO – Once a very tough place for the Orioles to get wins, Toronto’s Rogers Centre saw the Birds go 6-1 last year, on their way to going 10-3 against the Blue Jays in 2023.

The Orioles enjoyed their first visit north of the border this year as well.

Austin Hays produced his first two homers of the season and Anthony Santander added a two-run shot – all off former Oriole Kevin Gausman – and later Ramón Urías got one as the O’s beat Toronto 7-2 in the opener to the series and road trip.

The Orioles improved to 38-20 for the season and to 17-8 in road games as they opened a four-game series here. The eight-game trip will next take the team to St. Petersburg, Fla. to face Tampa Bay.

Hays, swinging it much better in recent weeks with his stats slowly trending up, hit a two-run shot in the fourth and added a solo blast in the seventh. He had not homered all year and not since last Sept. 18 at Houston, which also was his last two-homer game. It was the sixth multi-homer game of his career.

TORONTO – The Orioles, who are 16-8 on the road this year and are 5-2-1 in road series, begin their latest road trip tonight at Rogers Centre facing the Toronto Blue Jays. 

The Orioles (37-20) will play four games at Toronto and then four more in St. Petersburg, Fla. against the Tampa Bay Rays. The Birds took two of three from Tampa Bay over the weekend. They let a 3-0 lead get away Sunday and lost 4-3 to the Rays, missing the chance to sweep them.

The O’s 13 total runners left on base Sunday are a season high. Their 15 hits tie a season high, matching their total on April 20 at Kansas City. Sunday’s game marks the team’s first loss when outhitting an opponent in the 2024 season. and they are now 29-1 in those games.

Overall, the Orioles have won three of four and eight of their last 10 games, and they just completed a 4-2 homestand against Boston and Tampa Bay.

The Orioles are 11-4 (.733) versus American League East teams. This is their best 15-game start in division play since the 2017 Orioles also were 11-4.

TORONTO - Orioles prospect Connor Norby got an important phone call on Sunday. On the other end of the line was Orioles assistant general manager Eve Rosenbaum, calling to tell him he was finally headed to the major leagues.

Drafted by the club in the second round of the 2021 draft (No. 41 overall) out of East Carolina University, Norby’s first chance at this level has finally arrived.

Since the 2022 season he has played 198 games and taken 913 plate appearances at Triple-A. He has played in 344 minor league games overall.

“I started shaking,” Norby said of that phone call yesterday. “I think I shook for about an hour. I kind of settled down a little bit. Not much sleep though. But getting here and getting in the stadium, it’s what you dream of.”

Norby said when he got to the ballpark, coach Tim Cossins handed him a lineup card that had his name on it. He was in there batting ninth at second base. He will wear No. 12.

After Thursday’s off-day, the Orioles return to Oriole Park tonight to begin a three-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays. It continues a 14-game run of playing all American League East foes.

The Orioles (35-19) are on a 105-win pace after Wednesday’s 6-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox. They won that series with Boston and extended to 18 their streak of series versus AL East opponents without losing one. They are 39-19 (.672) in this stretch of series within the division. The Orioles improved to 5-1 against Boston, scoring 43 runs in those games, and to 9-3 on the year against AL East opponents.

Against a Boston pitching staff that began that series ranked second in the AL in team ERA (3.09) and starting rotation ERA (2.95), the Orioles scored 20 runs in the series on 27 hits with seven doubles, a triple and two homers, and they went 9-for-28 batting with runners in scoring position.

In the six games this season versus Boston, the Orioles have a team batting line of .271/.346/.449/.793. And in 12 AL East games in 2024 they have scored 61 runs with a .723 team OPS.

Winners of six of their past seven games, the Orioles are 19-11 at home and 12-4-2 in 18 series on the year.

With an offense that is producing again after a poor series at St. Louis last week, the Orioles have a season-high five-game win streak heading into their game with Boston tonight.

The Orioles (34-18) produced six doubles and a triple in Monday’s 11-3 rout of the Red Sox. They saw six different players in the lineup drive in runs. Nine of them scored and three had multi-hit games as the O's pounded out 13 hits.

This was the team's fifth win this year by eight runs or more. Their biggest win of the season was a 10-run margin, 11-1 at Cincinnati on May 5.

The Orioles improved to 4-0 in 2024 against Boston, and in those wins they have scored seven, seven, nine and 11 runs for 34 total. In the season series they are batting .293 with an .859 OPS against Boston a pitching staff that began this series second in the American League in team pitching with a 3.09 ERA and second in rotation ERA at 2.95.

The Orioles have gone 17 straight series versus AL East opponents without losing one. Another win in this series will extend that number to 18 straight.

It was Wednesday afternoon in St. Louis and in the ninth inning, down 5-3, the Orioles were trying to avoid being swept three in a row, something that had not happened in the regular season since May 13-15, 2022 at Detroit.

Kyle Stowers came up as pinch-hitter with runners at first and third and no outs. He lined a 1-0 cutter to deep right. Off the bat it looked like it might be a three-run homer for the lead, or at least get over the right fielder’s head and tie the game. But Lars Nootbaar ran back and made a great catch. Then Cedric Mullins was doubled off first base. We saw a rare sac fly/double play in which Stowers got an RBI but no at-bat. The Orioles got a run, but they lost 5-4 and indeed were swept.

But it was one of a few good swings that Stowers had had in recent days, and those swings might have told us a day like he had yesterday was coming.

Starting in right field and batting seventh against the Red Sox, he went 3-for-4 with four RBIs in the O’s 11-3 win. He is back in the lineup tonight as the designated hitter.

Stowers is 4-for-8 his past two games and is 6-for-16 (.375) with five RBIs in nine games since his latest call-up to the majors. Stowers had two doubles yesterday and set a career high for extra-base hits and RBIs and tied his career best with the three hits.

Maybe it didn’t exactly happen because of this, but it felt like it did. When O’s lefty Cole Irvin pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the fourth this afternoon, the O’s held their 2-0 lead.

That generated some momentum and then their offense rewarded the lefty with a quick-strike, five-run inning when they did most of the damage hitting to the off field.

Today the Orioles took control of the game early.

The five-run outburst drew the approval of a Memorial Day crowd of 40,951 at Oriole Park as the Orioles hammered Boston 11-3 to take the opener of a three-game series and six-game homestand.

The good offensive vibes that started for the club during the four-game sweep in Chicago carried back to the East Coast. Today, Ryan Mountcastle had three hits and Kyle Stowers drove in four while Adley Rutschman and Cedric Mullins knocked in two each. 

The road trip that featured numerous rain delays and two series sweeps - one that the Orioles won and one they did not - is finally over. Today they begin a week-long homestand that will include three games versus the Boston Red Sox and three against the Tampa Bay Rays.

This starts a stretch of 14 straight games within the American League East. The Birds go to Toronto and Tampa Bay for a pair of four-game series after this homestand at Oriole Park.

Today's game is a matchup between the second- and third-place teams in the division. The Orioles (33-18) are two games behind the New York Yankees while Boston (27-26) is nine games out. Tampa Bay (26-28) is 10 1/2 back, with Toronto (23-29) in last place and 12 1/2 games out.

The Orioles went 32-20 last year within the AL East and are 7-2 this year. That combined record of 39-22 represents a winning percentage of .639. Over 162 games that pace would give the team 103 victories.

The Orioles swept Boston three straight at Fenway Park from April 9-11 in their only previous meeting this season, by scores of 7-1, 7-5 and 9-4. They scored 23 runs on 31 hits and had five homers that series, recording a team OPS of .828 at Fenway Park. The pitching staff posted a team ERA of 2.89 in the three games.

The Orioles have made it home after their 4-3 road trip to St. Louis and Chicago and now they begin a stretch of four straight series versus American League East opponents.

The Orioles (33-18), two games out in the division behind New York, host Boston (27-26), a club that is in third place but is nine games out. Today these teams start a three-game series and run of 14 games for the Orioles against Boston, Tampa Bay, Toronto and Tampa Bay.

After scoring just eight runs on 14 hits in three losses at St. Louis, the O's got more productive offense during the four-game sweep at Chicago. They scored 23 runs on 35 hits with eight doubles and eight homers in that series. They went 7-for-25 with runners in scoring position in winning the games by two, two, two and three runs.

Boston won Sunday to avoid being swept at home by Milwaukee. With that 2-1 win, Boston is an major league-best 9-0 on Sundays, by a combined 58-20 score. 

The Orioles swept Boston April 9-11 at Fenway Park, winning by 7-1, 7-5 and 9-4 scores. Baltimore is 39-22 (.639) in the AL East since the start of last year.

Ahead of their series- and homestand-opening game with the Boston Red Sox this afternoon, the Orioles have activated right-handed pitcher Thyago Vieira and optioned lefty Nick Vespi back to Triple-A Norfolk.

On Saturday afternoon the O's sent Triple-A pitcher Garrett Stallings to the Milwaukee Brewers and acquired right-handers Vieira and minor leaguer Aneuris Rodriguez. Rodriguez is heading down to the Florida Complex League while Vieira now joins the big club and will wear No. 40.

Vieira, 31, had a 5.64 ERA, 1.701 WHIP and one save in 16 appearances with the Brewers. He owns a career 6.18 ERA and 1.667 WHIP in 41 games with the Mariners, White Sox and Brewers since making his major league debut in 2017. He pitched in Japan from 2020-22.

Vieira throws some high-octane fastballs, with a two-seam sinker that averages 96.9 mph and a four-seamer at 97.7 mph. He’s averaging 4.9 walks per nine innings in the majors to go with nine strikeouts. He’s averaged 4.5 walks in 10 minor league seasons.

The Brewers designated Vieira for assignment on Monday. He’s out of options.

CHICAGO – The Orioles' road trip has taken them to Chicago, where tonight the Birds (29-18) open a four-game series against the team with the worst record in the majors, the Chicago White Sox (15-35).

The Orioles have fallen 3.5 games behind first-place New York in the American League East. The Yankees won this afternoon against Seattle and split that four-game series while the Orioles were getting swept by the St. Louis Cardinals by 6-3, 3-1 and 5-4 scores.

That series result ended the O’s run of 106 straight regular-season series without being swept. They were last swept in the regular season from May 13-15, 2022 at Detroit.

Chicago’s start to this season was terrible as the White Sox were 3-22 on April 25. Then they swept a three-game series from Tampa Bay to start a run in which they went 11-8 over 19 games. They are now 1-5 in the past six games.

Their past two series were against AL East opponents, and they went 0-3 versus the Yankees and just lost two of three to Toronto, losing 9-2 yesterday.

ST. LOUIS – It was just a series when a lot went wrong for the Orioles. And for the first time in over two years, they have been swept three straight in the regular season.

The St. Louis Cardinals, who entered this series with a 20-26 record, did the job today, overcoming a 3-0 deficit to beat the Orioles 5-4 and complete the sweep at Busch Stadium.

Something even went wrong as the O's tried to rally in the ninth against reliever Ryan Fernandez. Austin Hays singled and went to third on pinch-hitter Cedric Mullins' single. Then pinch hitter Kyle Stowers lined one deep to right and Lars Nootbaar made a great catch. Hays scored from third but the Cards doubled Mullins off first base. No doubt he wanted to steam home with the tying run, but the ball was caught.

"I thought it was gone off the bat," Hays said of Stowers blast, adding that Mullins made what looked like a good decision in taking off on contact. "He's got a good chance to score on that ball if it gets down."

The Birds also contributed to their demise by making two errors as St. Louis scored three in the sixth to get the lead.

ST. LOUIS – The Orioles, even as visitors, took the field first today at Busch Stadium. They batted second. Their pitcher to start the day was reliever Jacob Webb.

It was not a usual day or game.

This was the resumption of last night’s suspended game in the last of the sixth with the game tied 1-1.

The Orioles have not had a lead in this series, and four batters after play resumed they were behind again today. Their only hit after play resumed was Ryan Mountcastle's single in the seventh, which snapped a 1-for-26 run. 

Second baseman Nolan Gorman’s two-run homer to right in the last of the sixth off lefty Keegan Akin – a left-on-left home run – gave St. Louis a 3-1 lead. The Cards beat the Orioles by that same score. The official attendance from the game that began last night, with many fewer here today, was 32,582.

ST. LOUIS - The Orioles and Cardinals will wrap up their three-game series today at Busch Stadium, completing last night's suspended game and then playing the regularly scheduled third and final game of the set.

The O's have struggled to hit thus far this series, going 3-for-31 in Monday's 6-3 loss. Last night's game was suspended by rain in a 1-1 tie before the beginning of the last of the sixth inning. The O's went 2-for-21 in that one, getting doubles from Kyle Stowers and Jorge Mateo.

Mateo's two-base hit to left, stung at 107.7 mph off his bat into left field, scored the Birds' only run last night. It tied the game 1-1 in the fifth after Nolan Gorman's RBI double in the second had put St. Louis ahead.

The O's Gunnar Henderson hit his 16th homer here on Monday night, a three-run shot. He has hit four in the last four completed O's games and 13 in the last 30 games. According to MLB.com's Sarah Langs, Henderson is the fifth player age 22 or younger to hit at least 16 homers in his team's first 45 games. He joins Washington's Bryce Harper in 2015, Seattle's Alex Rodriguez in 1998, the Washington Senators' Harmon Killebrew in 1959 and the Milwaukee Braves' Eddie Matthews in 1953. 

If Henderson hits one in what is left of last night's game, he will have homered in five consecutive games. The last Oriole to do that was Jonathan Schoop in 2018. The team record is six games in a row with a home run, co-held by Reggie Jackson in 1976 and Chris Davis in 2012.

ST. LOUIS – Sometimes the strike call you don’t get leads to the fastball you throw that leaves the ballpark.

That happened to the Orioles tonight, and it was a frustrating way to begin their week-long road trip to St. Louis and Chicago.

This game sure had its frustrations for the Orioles.

Take the Cardinals' four-run last of the fourth, which gave them a 5-0 lead.

No. 9 hitter Michael Siani hit a three-run homer in that inning, but only after home plate umpire Laz Diaz clearly missed an 0-2 pitch and called ball one instead of strike three. Two pitches later, Siani hit a Dean Kremer fastball over the inner half for a jack into the right-field bullpen and a 5-0 lead.

ST. LOUIS – After going 5-3 on the season’s longest homestand, the Orioles are in St. Louis tonight to begin a three-game series and seven-game road trip that moves to Chicago on Thursday.

The Seattle pitching staff began the weekend at Camden Yards ranked fourth in the American League in team ERA at 3.33 and fifth in rotation ERA at 3.36.

But the Orioles scored 18 runs on 28 hits off the Mariners, including six doubles, three triples and four homers, while going 2-1 in the weekend series. The team average was .277 and OPS .839, and they went 9-for-28 with runners in scoring position against Seattle.

The Orioles (29-15) have won three of the last four games, 10 of 14 and 17 of their past 25. They are now 10-3-2 in series for the year and are 6-2-1 in home series. They are now 4-2 in rubber match games.

One of the best developments in recent days for the club might be that some struggling outfielders started to hit. Center fielder Cedric Mullins went 3-for-8 with two RBIs the last two days, and at least that’s a start to turning around his season. Austin Hays has five hits his last 13 at-bats, which actually dates back to before he went on the injured list. And Colton Cowser, whose average was down to .267 in early May, is now batting .310 (9-for-29) with three doubles, four RBIs and an .861 OPS his past nine games.

ST. LOUIS – The Orioles may be back to having one closer, and it’s once again veteran Craig Kimbrel. He buzzed through the ninth inning Sunday on 14 pitches with two strikeouts, recording the ninth save of his year and the 426th of his career. 

Over his past four games, he has thrown four hitless and scoreless innings, lowering his ERA from 4.73 to 3.63, with no walks and six strikeouts in that span.

So is he the main ninth-inning guy again?

“Well yeah, I think so. Probably,” manager Brandon Hyde said this afternoon at Busch Stadium before the opener of the series and the road trip in St. Louis. “I’m going to see how he feels today. … He looked great yesterday. That was awesome. Really happy. Nice to get him a three-run lead, have a little cushion there. But I thought the stuff was outstanding.”

The Orioles are reunited today with their good friend and 2023 teammate, right-hander Kyle Gibson. He pitched to a 4.73 ERA over 192 innings for the Orioles and is 3-2 with a 4.09 ERA for the Cardinals and will face the O’s Wednesday afternoon.

Facing a first-place Seattle team, one that was 20-12 since April 10 with a team ERA of 2.63, the Orioles won the series-opening game last night. And now a win in one of the next two days will give them yet another series victory.

The Orioles offense, one that scored 3.7 runs per game the previous 14 games to rank 21st in the majors in that span, broke out last night in a 9-2 win with 10 hits and five for extra bases. Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman and Colton Cowser all had two-hit games. Henderson and Cowser each drove in two runs as the Orioles went 4-for-9 with runners in scoring position and had five players drive in runs.

The first five batters scored to start the game, the first time the Birds have done that since the first six scored to begin a July 30, 2023 game against the Yankees. Jorge Mateo and Henderson tripled to begin the seventh inning, the first time the Orioles have hit back-to-back triples since July 3, 2008 versus Kansas City (4th inning, Adam Jones and Brandon Fahey). Rutschman and pinch-hitter Austin Hays followed with doubles, marking the first time the team has hit four consecutive extra-base hits since Sept. 23, 2018 at New York (6th inning, Trey Mancini, Tim Beckham, Renato Núñez and Joey Rickard).

Henderson and Jordan Westburg have hit leadoff homers the last two games, the sixth time in O's history the team has hit a leadoff homer in at least two consecutive team games and the first time since Melvin Mora did it June 28-29, 2002. Baltimore leads the major leagues with five leadoff homers this season; Henderson's four leadoff home runs are tied with Philadelphia's Kyle Schwarber for the most this season.

The O's have an majors-best 2.12 ERA in their last 15 games (since April 29). During that time, the Birds have surrendered an majors-low 92 hits while holding opponents to a .186 batting average. The 2.12 ERA is the best mark in a 15-game span in a single season by the Orioles since Sept. 6-21, 2014 (2.06).