Hanser Alberto is putting the finishing touches on a strong season

The Orioles' Hanser Alberto began play Wednesday night ranked fourth in the American League and 10th in Major League Baseball batting .316. If only the teams that waived him over the winter knew he was capable of that.

Alberto's .407 batting average against left-handed pitchers is the highest in MLB among qualifying hitters. If only those teams knew he would do that.

After a winter that started with him playing for Texas, Alberto was claimed via waivers by the Yankees, then by the Orioles, followed by the Giants and then again by the Orioles.

The Orioles are pretty happy they got him back. They designated him for assignment during spring training on Feb. 19 when they added lefty reliever Josh Osich to the 40-man. On Feb. 22 the Giants claimed Alberto but on March 1 the Orioles got him back via a waiver claim from the Giants.

This time he stayed with the Orioles. In an interview this week, Alberto does admit to taking a small degree of satisfaction in showing the other clubs that cut him loose what he could do this year.

"Yes. I think it is a little special," he said. "I had to put in more work, concentrate better and prove I can be here at this level. At the moment that was tough (getting waived) but now I'm here and embracing the opportunity."

Alberto was always a pretty good Triple-A hitter and holds a career .309 batting average in exactly 1,000 plate appearances at that level. So is he a better hitter this year or just getting more of a chance to show what he can do?

"All the hard work in the past is paying off right now," he said. "If you look at my numbers in the minor leagues, I've always been a really good hitter. Most of the time over .300. But in the big leagues I hadn't gotten an opportunity to show that. This year I've gotten the chance and I'm showing what I did in the minors."

And as the season has gone on, Alberto is hitting with more extra-base pop. He had a slugging percentage of .380 in April, .388 in May, .434 in June, .410 in July and it's .575 in August.

"That surprised me. In the beginning of the season I didn't hit the ball really hard. In the minors every year I got a lot of doubles and hit the ball hard consistently. Now everything is going good and in the second half I'm showing a little more power. That's good. If you can hit the ball hard, hit for average, and not strike out much, that's really good," Alberto said.

Alberto's 72 hits off left-handed pitching is tied for second-most in one season by an Oriole. Rafael Palmeiro also had 72 in 1996 and Palmeiro also holds the club record with 73 in 1998. Alberto should blow by that. The last player in the majors to exceed 80 hits against lefties was Ichiro Suzuki who had 84 for the 2004 Seattle Mariners.

Alberto recently hit his 10th homer and has hit four this month. Alberto said 10 homers was his goal.

"Now let's get to 15. Looking for five more. Last four have been quick. Maybe five in one month. That would be good," he said.

Now 26, Alberto said he has always been one to watch and learn from other players, like Adrián Beltré when he was with Texas. Now he's getting the chance to put what he learned into practice with every day at-bats. All the reps can help a player relax and show his true talents.

"Yes, because I knew I would play more consistently in the second half. I knew I'd get more playing time. So I was more relaxed knowing I had to get ready for every day and prepare myself better. Less worry whether I would see my name in the lineup."

So as he comes toward the end of his first year as an Oriole, Alberto hopes it's the first of many. He'd like to stay around awhile.

"Yeah, of course. Why not help the team and be with a competitive team. That is our goal. To be the best team and we'll be good over the next few years," he said.

O's notes: The Orioles and Nationals split a pair of two-game series and for the fifth time in the 14 seasons they have played, they split the season series. They went 2-2 against each other this year after the Nationals won five of six meetings in 2018.

The Orioles lead the all-time series against the Nationals - first played in 2006 - with a 41-33 record. Baltimore is 19-18 all-time at Nats Park. Over 14 season series the Orioles have won seven, lost two and tied five.

Anthony Santander had an RBI double in the third last night off Max Scherzer and he went 2-for-4. Over his past three games - including Sunday's 5-for-5 effort - Santander is 8-for-13 with a homer and four RBIs. He went 5-for-49 in the 12 games before that. In 71 games since being recalled from Triple-A Norfolk on June 7, he leads the Orioles in hits (82) and extra-base hits (31).

Heading into last night's game, the Orioles' bullpen posted a 1.13 ERA over 24 innings since Aug. 20, ranking second in the majors. But last night the 'pen allowed three runs over four innings in the 8-4 loss.

The Orioles are 3-1 in the last four games and 5-3 over their last eight and they take today off. Then they open a three-game series Friday night at Kansas City.

On the farm: Double-A Bowie lost last night but Erie lost a doubleheader so the Baysox gained a 1/2 game and lead Erie by one game with five left to play. If the clubs finish tied for first in the Eastern League West division second-half race, Bowie wins the tiebreaker to advance to the playoffs.

Aberdeen suffered a tough 9-8 loss to Brooklyn last night. And with five games left in the New York-Penn League regular season, Aberdeen is one game out of first and one game out in the wild card race. Brooklyn and Hudson Valley are tied for the lead in both races at 40-30 with Aberdeen at 39-31.