A few notes on O's latest loss and more from Adley Rutschman

On a night the Orioles losing streak was extended to seven with a 5-2 loss to Detroit, there were a few positive signs that some better days could be in the offing.

For one, it was good to see Matt Harvey return, throw four scoreless innings before he ran into trouble in the fifth and get through his start doing fine physically. This outing was pushed back a few days after he tweaked his right knee in his last start. With lefty Bruce Zimmermann likely to rejoin the rotation this weekend, this is another solid development. He threw five scoreless innings at Triple-A Tuesday night.

Paul Fry and Dillon Tate threw scoreless innings the past two nights. That was great news for the O's recently battered bullpen, a bullpen that allowed seven or more runs five straight games going into Tuesday night's game. That bullpen got Tanner Scott back for last night's game, although he did not pitch, and is expected to get Tyler Wells back today. So maybe the quartet of Scott, Tate, Fry and Wells can help the bullpen get its act together with help from the likes of Cole Sulser and Marcos Diplán. Hunter Harvey could soon provide another boost. The bullpen could use reinforcements and now is getting some as injured players return.

All year some in Birdland have looked forward to a day when the trio of Trey Mancini, Ryan Mountcastle and Anthony Santander would all be in the lineup together and all raking at the same time. Have we seen that much at any point this year?

We are not seeing it now, but it was a good sight to see Santander reach Eutaw Street in back-to-back games. He's now hit the ball there six times in his O's career, tying Luke Scott for second-most all-time behind Chris Davis with 11.

Over his past three games, Santander is 8-for-13 with four homers. During an eight-game hitting streak, he is batting .469 (15-for-32) with two doubles, four homers and seven RBIs. His three hits last night tied his season high and he has homered in three straight games for the first time in his career.

Also last night, Cedric Mullins extended his hitting streak to 18 games, during which he is batting .347. And Austin Hays is batting .300 during a nine-game streak.

Some good signs, and now the Orioles will try to win today behind lefty John Means. In the previous homestand, the Orioles went 4-1 versus Washington and Miami. They are 0-5 on this one against Tampa Bay and Detroit, with one more chance this afternoon at 4:05 p.m. to get in the win column.

More from Rutschman: Baseball's No. 1 prospect, catcher Adley Rutschman, spoke with Baltimore reporters during a Zoom interview yesterday and let us in on his excitement level in moving up to Triple-A Norfolk from Double-A Bowie.

"Absolutely (excited)," Rutschman said. "I think you've got to celebrate all the small victories, and getting promoted is obviously a huge step. Definitely a great experience and I'm very blessed to be in the position I'm right now. So, very happy to be here and to be a step away."

After batting .271/.392/.508/.901 with 16 doubles, 18 homers and 55 RBIs in 80 games with the Baysox, Rutschman has started 3-for-8 (.375) with three RBIs at Norfolk. His two-run single in the seventh last night put the Tides ahead 6-5, and they beat Memphis 7-5 to go 2-0 with Rutschman on their team.

Rutschman is noted for his strong defense and strong arm, in addition to his bat. The organization loves his ability to call a good game and many fans have pointed out how he meets his pitcher after every inning on the way back to the dugout. Keeping the communication flow moving is always important, he said.

"I think the biggest thing with pitchers is just knowing the guys and creating that relationship and just knowing how they want to attack guys, what their strengths and weaknesses are. Things that I can look for in them and their delivery. Whatever it is, whatever cues they particularly have for themselves is what I try and focus on.

"After each inning, it's a new conversation. New things to be addressed. And so, we're just talking a lot and those conversations help to progress on everyone's end. And create those connections and just that feel for what we are doing when we get on the field."

With Bowie, Rutschman caught 51 games, played first base for 20 and was the DH for nine.

"My routine definitely does change depending on whether I play first, catch or DH on a particular day. As far as knowing what the workload will be for that day," he said. "You'll know as soon as you get to the field, for the most part, what you are doing, and your schedule kind of gets dictated based off of that. It's been nice. Physically, I've been able to do everything necessary so far. It's been good, no complaints at all."

Rutschman was at the Bowie alternate site last summer getting a lot of good work in playing simulated and practice games. But there is nothing quite like the real game experience he is getting on the farm this year. He said his body feels good, even this late in the year, and he is soaking up all the experiences that he can.

"Definitely better. I think just with playing a lot more games, getting a lot more ABs and facing new pitchers every single day, and new lineups," Rutschman said, comparing this year to last. "There is a lot of stuff that you can take away from that. That, last year with no baseball and whatnot that you just hadn't experienced that before. I think, just for me, my overall game feels better and I think I've improved a lot."

Click here for yesterday's writeup on Rutschman.

The O's farm for the full-season clubs went 5-0 yesterday. In addition to Norfolk's win, Grayson Rodriguez threw five scoreless innings as Double-A Bowie beat Richmond 8-4. High Single-A Aberdeen won and low Single-A Delmarva swept a doubleheader, completing the unbeaten day and night.

Tony Taters is lava hot:

🥔 Homers in three-straight games.
🥔 Eutaw Street in back-to-back games.
🥔 Eight hits in his last three games. pic.twitter.com/joQcW5slkp

-- Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) August 12, 2021