BALTIMORE—Andrew Velázquez is one of the most anonymous of the surprising Orioles. Velázquez, a 5-foot-8 26-year-old utilityman from the Bronx, is playing for his fourth major league organization and has finally gotten some playing time. First, he started at shortstop when José Iglesias was slowed by a quadriceps injury. Lately, he’s been...
BALTIMORE—The Orioles placed centerfielder Austin Hays on the 10-day injured list with a non-displaced rib fracture on Saturday. Hays was hit by a pitch on August 6th against Miami, got X-rays, which were negative, but the condition got worse, manager Brandon Hyde said. Hays made two difficult catches in the Philadelphia series,...
BALTIMORE—Earlier on Friday night, the Orioles had completed their suspended game from five days before with a victory over the Washington Nationals and had their longest winning streak in nearly three years — six in a row. They’d also swept consecutive road series for the first time in 15 years and were...
BALTIMORE—Five days and a dry field later, the Orioles have a six-game winning streak. They also have their second straight three-game road series sweep, even though the final innings of Friday evening’s suspended game against the Washington Nationals was at Camden Yards. Last Sunday, when the Nationals’ grounds crew couldn’t unravel the...
Each day, BaseballReference.com not only updates player and team statistics around baseball, it projects playoff teams, even at this early stage of the 2020 season. On Thursday morning, Oriole fans who scanned the site were in for a surprise when they saw their favorite team projected as one of five American League...
PHILADELPHIA—For the first time in nearly three years, the Orioles have a three-game road sweep. After two taut games, the Orioles spotted the Philadelphia Phillies a 2-0 lead and scored nine unanswered runs on their way to an 11-4 victory on Thursday for their fifth straight win and a three-game series sweep...
PHILADELPHIA—Sixteen games into the season, it’s clear that this Orioles team is better than last year’s. On Wednesday night, they won their fourth straight game and captured their fourth series of the 60-game season. In 2019, they didn’t win their fourth series until midway through a conventional 162-game season. The Orioles ran...
PHILADELPHIA—Orioles manager Brandon Hyde has to use his bullpen differently in 2020. There’s a new rule, and it’s one that was going to be in effect before the pandemic: A pitcher must face at least three batters or end an inning. It minimizes the left-handed specialist like Brian Matusz, who’d come in...
PHILADELPHIA—In this most unusual season, the unlikely keeps happening to the Orioles. There was an abundance of it on Tuesday night in a roller-coaster ride with the Philadelphia Phillies. First, the Orioles came back from a three-run deficit to take a 5-3 lead in the seventh. Then reliever Miguel Castro, who’d been...
PHILADELPHIA—Orioles starter John Means is traveling to Baltimore after attending his father’s funeral, and he’ll have to go through the Covid-19 protocols before he can be activated. Means was taken off the bereavement list and put on the injured list. Thomas Eshelman, who started Saturday night in Washington, will start on Thursday...