When good starting pitching happens, good things have often followed for the 2025 Orioles, especially lately.
Hello, friends.
The Orioles are still winning baseball games! They extended their season-high winning streak to five with an after midnight (for us) victory out in Seattle in Wednesday’s game. This was also the eighth win in the last ten games for the O’s. Despite only getting four hits in the game, the O’s managed to pull off a 3-2 victory over the Mariners. Heston Kjerstad’s two-run triple late in the game turned a deficit into the margin of victory, and in the ninth inning, Félix Bautista battled shaky command to close out the game.
This is the kind of thing that the Orioles just could not manage to do earlier in the season. It’s not a coincidence that this is finally happening in a stretch of games where the Orioles are largely getting competent-to-great outings from their starting pitchers on a nightly basis. Cade Povich allowing two runs in 5.1 innings last night falls under competent. I’d feel better about him if he was doing that every time out. Though his May had a poor ERA, peripheral stats were better and if that starts to show up in his ERA, that will be good.
The pitching has needed to carry the load, too, because the offense is still not doing a whole lot even as they’ve been winning these games. The last time that the Orioles scored more than five runs in a game was May 21. The problems are not fixed, but as long as the starting pitching gives them a chance, maybe enough guys are able to overcome the problems on a given night to make good things happen. That’s what we’ve been seeing since Memorial Day weekend.
One story in recent days has been the continuation of Orioles moving from the injured list back towards the active roster. Colton Cowser was the first. Others are coming, as we will see in the links below. The news is not good on every injured player, though, with an update on Ryan Mountcastle getting the “vague update that probably means bad news” treatment from interim manager Tony Mansolino yesterday:
Tony Mansolino didn’t have an exact timeline for Orioles first baseman Ryan Mountcastle’s hamstring strain.
“It’s going to be a little bit. It’s going to be a little while,” Mansolino said.
He did not know the grade level of strain.
— Andy Kostka (@afkostka.bsky.social) 2025-06-04T23:39:09.272Z
Presumably, this is an extension of the opportunity going to prospect Coby Mayo. I hope he can do better over Mountcastle’s prolonged absence than Heston Kjerstad was able to do without Cowser around. Though even Kjerstad has turned that around a little bit lately, even after Cowser has come back.
Today is release day in the United States for the Nintendo Switch 2. The Seattle Mariners play with a Nintendo patch on their jerseys. These two facts in conjunction are entirely irrelevant to the outcome of today’s game. If you’re getting a launch day Switch 2, I hope you get to have some fun with it. The Orioles will try to make it two sweeps in a row as the finale gets under way at 3:40 Eastern time. Zach Eflin is set to start for the O’s, with Bryan Woo on the mound for the Mariners.
Orioles things you might have missed
Rehab starting for Ramón Laureano and Gary Sánchez (School of Roch)
Two more injured Orioles started out their rehab assignments with Triple-A Norfolk last night. One return is more exciting than the other, based on how guys performed before hitting the injured list.
Orioles outfield defense is worst in MLB. Is Colton Cowser the fix? (The Baltimore Sun)
Just one more of those, “Wow, this season really IS this bad” realizations about the 2025 Orioles. They need to stop having infielders play in the outfield, but that’s certainly not the only problem.
John Mabry saw Jackson Holliday grow up in MLB clubhouses. Now he’s coaching him on the Orioles. (The Baltimore Banner)
According to this article, neither Jackson Holliday nor his dad Matt knew about John Mabry joining up with the Orioles until they saw it on MLB Trade Rumors. That should quiet uninformed speculation about whether the Holliday clan was somehow involved in the hiring.
One pitching prospect from each contender for the Orioles to target at the deadline (The Dishwasher)
The Dishwasher is aiming high with some of his prospect suggestions, particularly Philadelphia’s Mick Abel. I’m rooting to acquire Cubs prospect Brandon Birdsell, purely for name reasons.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
The most recent Orioles victory on today’s date goes all the way back to the 2018 season. Seven years ago, Manny Machado drove in Trey Mancini (the day’s leadoff hitter) and Danny Valencia (cleanup hitter!) brought Adam Jones home in the first inning. These two runs were enough against the Mets as Alex Cobb allowed just a run over six innings. After the win, the Orioles were 18-41. The 2025 O’s had five more wins through the same number of games.
There are a pair of former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2022 catcher and current bench coach Robinson Chirinos, and 2006 pitcher Russ Ortiz. Today is Ortiz’s 51st birthday, so an extra happy birthday to him.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: Easter Rising leader James Connolly (1868), Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa (1878), economist John Maynard Keynes (1883), shoe designer Salvatore Ferragamo (1898), illustrator Richard Scarry (1919), Baltimore Colts Hall of Famer Art Donovan (1924), musician Kenny G (1956), Fall Out Boy bassist/singer Pete Wentz (1979), and streamer Ninja (1991).
On this day in history…
In 1832, republicans in Paris, France rose up with the aim of overthrowing the Bourbon monarch, Louis Phillipe. It was not successful. This relatively minor event endures in cultural memory as part of the climactic action of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, and the musical based on that book, takes place during this June Rebellion.
In 1851, the abolitionist newspaper National Era began publication of a serialized story. Over the next ten months, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin played out in the paper’s pages.
In 1916, the first Jewish justice of the Supreme Court, Louis Brandeis, was sworn in to office.
In 1956, Elvis Presley appeared on The Milton Berle Show to play his new single, “Hound Dog.” The performance is also notable for the television debut of Presley’s gyrating hip movements.
In 1989, during the Tiananmen Square protests in China, one lone never-identified man was photographed blocking a column of tanks. Tank Man stood in their way for about half an hour before leaving.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on June 5. Have a safe Thursday. Go O’s!