The Orioles (70-75) host the Cleveland Guardians (73-72) on Tuesday night at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in the middle game of a three-game series, with Baltimore trying to build on its first win in a week against the team holding the American League's final wild-card spot.
Baltimore snapped a six-game losing streak Monday afternoon with a 6-4 win. Dylan Beavers doubled home Samuel Basallo in the second inning off Joey Cantillo for a 1-0 lead, and Coby Mayo hit two home runs — his 20th in the third and a two-run shot in the sixth for No. 21 — while driving in three. Basallo went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and Rece Hinds was 2-for-2. Cantillo took the loss after lasting 2 1/3 innings and allowing four earned runs. Nathaniel Lowe's pinch-hit three-run homer off Andrew Kittredge in the ninth cut the lead to two before Josh Walker recorded the save.
Trevor Rogers earned the win and pitched into the eighth, going 7 1/3 innings and allowing one run on six hits with six strikeouts. Kittredge was the only Baltimore reliever to work more than an out, which leaves Albernaz with a mostly rested bullpen for the last two games of the series.
Wild-Card Picture
The Orioles are three games back of the final AL wild-card spot with 17 games left. Cleveland holds that spot at 73-72, and Toronto (72-72) is a game behind the Guardians. Texas and Minnesota are also still in the mix. Boston, which swept four games at Camden Yards over the weekend and shut out the Orioles twice, is 79-65 and holds the second wild card.
Winning both remaining games against Cleveland would move Baltimore within a game of the Guardians. The Orioles have not led the wild-card race at any point this season, and their last stretch at .500 came Aug. 31, when Colton Cowser robbed a game-winning home run in Denver.
Albernaz's Cleveland Ties
Tuesday is another game against Albernaz's former employer. The first-year Orioles manager spent 2025 as Cleveland's associate manager under Stephen Vogt and served as the Guardians' major league field coordinator before that. Baltimore hired the 42-year-old last October.
Albernaz has kept the same message through the losing streak. "The league doesn't let up. You still have to go out there and compete," he said during the Boston series. "I know it's tough for the fans to hear, but we've been in this spot multiple times this year and our guys continue to find a way to keep on going."
Pitching Matchup
Brandon Young (9-3, 3.42 ERA) starts for Baltimore. He has thrown 137 innings with 110 strikeouts and has been the Orioles' most consistent starter this season. Young went 6 2/3 innings with seven strikeouts against Boston on Sept. 3, allowing three runs in a game the Orioles lost 6-5 after the bullpen surrendered the lead.
Tanner Bibee (5-15, 4.06 ERA) goes for Cleveland. His record does not reflect how he has pitched: Bibee has 132 strikeouts over 166 1/3 innings with a 1.18 WHIP and a 2.59 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Cleveland's offense has given him little to work with for much of the season, averaging under two runs per start behind him during one stretch.
He is essentially Cleveland's version of Shane Baz. The Orioles right-hander is 5-14 with a 4.01 ERA, numbers nearly identical to Bibee's, and has dealt with the same problem of pitching well enough to win more often than his team has scored for him.
The Orioles scored six runs Monday after managing one run against Boston on Sunday and being shut out in back-to-back games Friday and Saturday.
Probable Starters
Cleveland Guardians: RHP Tanner Bibee (5-15, 4.06 ERA)
Baltimore Orioles: RHP Brandon Young (9-3, 3.42 ERA)
Where to Watch/Listen
First pitch: 6:35 PM ET at Oriole Park at Camden Yards
Weather: Mostly clear, upper 70s at first pitch
TV: MASN (Guardians.TV in Cleveland)
Radio: 98 Rock (97.9 FM) and WBAL NewsRadio (AM 1090 / FM 101.5)