BALTIMORE—In this most challenging of Orioles seasons, the team was presented with a new challenge on Sunday. They wanted to avoid being part of history. For eight innings, Ryne Stanek and Ryan Yarbrough completely throttled the Orioles, not allowing a baserunner. There was nothing close to a hit, and only two relatively...
BALTIMORE—It was a day of two games and one big news story for the Baltimore Orioles. Starting pitcher Andrew Cashner, who was 9-3 on a team with a 24-68 record, was traded to the Boston Red Sox for 17-year-old international prospects Elio Prado, an outfielder, and Noelberth Romero, an infielder. It was...
BALTIMORE—With the trade deadline 18 days away, Orioles general manager Mike Elias moved decisively to reiterate that the Orioles are still in the early stages of their rebuild. Between games of Saturday’s doubleheader, the Orioles traded Andrew Cashner, who was scheduled to start Sunday’s game, to the Boston Red Sox for a...
BALTIMORE—On Friday night, Stevie Wilkerson was surprised when he was asked to pitch for the first time in his professional career. The Orioles were being blown out, and with a doubleheader coming up, manager Brandon Hyde wanted to preserve his bullpen. Wilkerson pitched a perfect ninth. On Saturday afternoon, in the first...
BALTIMORE—After the Orioles played crisply in their final 10 games before the All-Star break, a rocky first inning from Dylan Bundy started their second half horribly. Bundy allowed seven runs on eight hits, and was yanked after an inning when manager Brandon Hyde discovered that Bundy had knee soreness. The evening didn’t...
By almost any measure, the Orioles had a horrible first half. It’s not likely that the second half will be measurably better, but manager Brandon Hyde is trying to maintain an equal amount of optimism and realism. “We’ve gone through quite a bit these first 80-something games,” Hyde said last week in...
The first half of a most difficult Orioles season is over, and when play resumes on Friday, they’ll attempt to improve on a whole host of negatives. How bad was the first half? The Orioles were 27-62, and while they’re three games ahead of their record (24-65) after 89 games last year,...
It was 26 years ago that the All-Star Game came to Baltimore for the first time since 1958. These days, fans are wondering if they’ll ever see another one. Last year, when commissioner Rob Manfred addressed the Baseball Writers’ Association of America before the All-Star Game in Washington, he angrily denied that...
There’s more interest in the Orioles’ minor leagues this year than in possibly any other year. Some readers have attended minor league games. Others have not. While the International League and Eastern League also have All-Star breaks this week, the other leagues don’t. As we near the All-Star break, let’s look at...
General manager Mike Elias has methodically attacked each project that’s been before him since taking over the Orioles’ top baseball job last November. His most exciting time came last month when the Orioles selected Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman with the top pick in the draft. Elias followed up with several other...