The road schedule ends, league top 20s and a Victor Victor Mesa note

And then there were four. The Orioles are down to the final series and final four games of the 2018 season, which will end up as their worst in team history. They host the Houston Astros the next four days at Oriole Park.

They got blown out in the day portion of Wednesday's doubleheader at Boston, but posted a 10-3 win last night. That continued a crazy run of seemingly all-or-nothing offense for the club. In the last 19 games, the Orioles have scored six runs or more five times, but two runs or fewer nine times. Starting on Sept. 5, they have scored, in order two, two, five, three, two, zero, five, six, zero, eight, zero, four, two, eight, two, six, two, three and 10 runs.

The Orioles would surely love to get some innings from their starting pitchers this weekend. The last four games, O's starters pitched a combined 6 2/3 innings. Over the last nine games they've covered just 28 innings. The Orioles have one quality start the last 12 games, and two in the past 19 games.

The Orioles finished with a 19-62 (.235) road record, which ranks as the worst in club history. This year's team finished with one more road loss than the 1988 Orioles, who went 20-61 (.247) away from Baltimore. This year's Orioles lost their last nine road series and went 7-33 in their last 40 road games.

Are we down to the final four games for manager Buck Showalter and outfielder Adam Jones as Orioles? Is Dan Duquette staying on beyond the 2018 season? The Orioles have not officially answered those quetions yet and Birdland anxiously awaits answers, which, hopefully, will be coming sooner than later.

Will fans treat this weekend as the last for Jones and Showalter? Emotions could be running high at the Yard starting tonight as we see not just a season end, but possibly the careers as Orioles of two men who have meant so much to this team, the town and its fans.

League top 20s are announced: Baseball America is starting to roll out its end-of-season league top 20 prospects lists. They released their Triple-A International League top 20 and rated Norfolk outfielder Cedric Mullins at No. 15 in that league this season.

BA announced its top 20 in another strong year for the Double-A Eastern League with Mullins at No. 13 and third baseman Ryan Mountcastle at No. 15. Orioles right-handed pitching prospect Dean Kremer was rated No. 15 in the Single-A California League. Kremer, who led all minor league hurlers in strikeouts, began the season in that league before the Dodgers traded him and four others to the Orioles for Manny Machado.

Baseball America said this of Mullins' time in the Eastern League: "After an excellent second half with Bowie in 2017, Mullins returned to the EL in 2018 and showed significant further improvement. He did damage from both sides of the plate, on the bases and in center field, and in doing so earned himself his first big league call-up.

"Mullins is not an imposing presence, but he packs sneaky power into a twitchy body. He's a plus runner who turns in plus-plus times at his best. That speed and excellent instincts paid off on the basepaths (21 steals in 22 tries) and in center field, where he pairs his speed with excellent routes. His impact at the plate was fairly evenly distributed in Double-A, though he had a little bit tougher time from the left side in Triple-A before his promotion to Baltimore.

Despite his smaller size, scouts point to the big-time torque he gets in his hips as a reason to believe he'll be able to produce power in the big leagues. With Adam Jones a free agent at season's end, Mullins is a solid candidate to be Baltimore's everyday center fielder in 2019.

Baseball America on Mountcastle: "Mountcastle's scouting report has long been the same: He's going to hit, but there's almost no chance he sticks in the infield. After his first full test in Double-A, the reputation stayed the same. He impressed evaluators with the bat as a 21-year-old in the EL, but still did not show an arm strong enough to stick at third base, where he'd moved after spending the first part of his pro career at shortstop. One opposing manager said his team bunted toward Mountcastle all the time to try to exploit the holes in his game. A move to left field or first base seems likely. His offense, however, is a different story. Scouts believe he's capable of being a middle of the order bat who can hit for both average and power."

Victor Victor Mesa update: Victor Victor Mesa, the No. 1 ranked international amateur prospect, and his younger brother, Victor Mesa Jr., are scheduled to hold a showcase/workout for all major league teams on Oct. 5, according to this article from MLB.com. Major League Baseball recently declared the brothers free agents, and they are now free to sign with any team. The Orioles have the most money remaining in their international signing pool, approximately $6.7 million.