The Latest Breaking News from Keegan Akin

BALTIMORE — The Orioles’ second half began much like the first half ended. Baltimore’s starting pitcher tossed a quality start, the offense blasted three home runs and the bullpen held the lead.

Forget the pitch clock for a moment. There may not be an area of baseball that has seen as much innovation as the home run celebration.

BALTIMORE — In the aftermath of Félix Bautista’s heroics a day earlier, when the new Orioles closer worked a five-out save, manager Brandon Hyde admitted the bullpen is undergoing a feeling-out period. That’s what happens when All-Star Jorge López, the previous closer, is shipped off at the trade deadline, leaving…

MINNEAPOLIS — As effective as Tyler Wells has been since donning an Orioles uniform, it becomes easy to forget he was not only a player Baltimore acquired through in 2020′s Rule 5 draft, but also the second player they plucked from another organization that year in that manner.

BALTIMORE — Based on his accomplished amateur and minor league career, it figured that when Adley Rutschman started hitting, he would do so in bunches. The evidence appears to be building.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —There was a hint of a smile as Anthony Santander rounded first base, and it wouldn’t be the last one the Orioles would flash Sunday at Kauffman Stadium. The ball had leaped off Santander’s bat, flying an estimated 455 feet and ending with a splash into the…

BALTIMORE — When the ball nestled in Cedric Mullins’ glove in center field, right-hander Jorge López finally let out his emotion. The closer entered with two outs in the eighth inning Saturday, because there are times the biggest moments don’t occur in the final inning.

BALTIMORE — The last swing of the eighth inning — a half-hearted check swing on a low change-up — was the last straw for some inside Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Tuesday. As Baltimore loaded the bases and then left them that way with three straight strikeouts, there were…