Dylan Beavers is set to lead off and play left field as the Orioles open their series against the Braves tonight at Camden Yards, with Taylor Ward handling designated hitter duties and Colton Cowser in center. Leody Taveras is in right field, Chadwick Tromp is behind the plate, and Christian Encarnacion-Strand is at third base.
Trevor Rogers gets the ball for Baltimore, and he comes in on a sharp run. The left-hander has given up three runs over his last five starts, covering 30 2/3 innings, and nine runs across his last eight outings spanning 48 innings. This will be his 11th career start against Atlanta, and the numbers there have been rough: 1-7 with a 4.81 ERA and 1.438 WHIP in 48 2/3 innings.
Rogers has also put together a notable stretch of consistency, going at least five innings and allowing one run or fewer in each of his last five starts. That ties for the fourth-longest streak in club history.
Hall of Famer Jim Palmer owns the top spot with eight in 1978, followed by Rogers’ seven last season and Tom Phoebus’ six in 1968. Hoyt Wilhelm in 1959 and Erik Bedard in 2006 also had five straight.
Baltimore’s pitching staff has been rolling this month, too. Orioles pitchers own a 2.96 ERA in July, second-best in the majors behind Boston’s 2.69.
The Orioles also have a milestone night for Gunnar Henderson, who is playing in his 600th career game. He’s one of four Orioles to reach 600 hits and 100 home runs in that span, joining Trey Mancini, Manny Machado and Eddie Murray.
Jorge Mateo is back at Camden Yards, starting at shortstop and batting ninth. He enters the game hitting .244/.289/.386 with six doubles, four homers, eight walks, 41 strikeouts and nine steals in 10 attempts.
On the other side, former Orioles third base coach and interim manager Tony Mansolino is in town as the Braves’ bench coach. Atlanta has won six of its last eight and arrives with the third-best record in baseball at 60-42. Its plus-106 run differential also ranks third.
Grant Holmes starts for the Braves, bringing a 3.70 ERA in 19 games, 18 of them starts. The former Dodgers first-round pick from 2014 hasn’t worked past five innings in a start since June 3.
Over his last five appearances, he has allowed five earned runs in 23 2/3 innings. His splits show a 3.25 ERA and 1.218 WHIP in nine road games, compared with a 4.13 ERA and 1.458 WHIP in 10 home games.
Baltimore already saw Holmes on July 6, 2025, when he gave up two runs in six innings. Jackson Holliday is 3-for-3 with a homer against him, and Pete Alonso is 3-for-5.
Holmes has also kept the damage in check overall, not allowing more than three runs in any of his last 12 games, including 11 starts.
The Orioles have had success against Atlanta in recent years, going 15-9 against the Braves since 2012. They also swept a three-game series in Atlanta last year.
One more Braves note stands out: they have scored 172 runs and allowed 115 from the seventh inning on, a plus-57 margin that is the best in the majors, according to STATS.
Baltimore’s lineup against Holmes is Beavers in left, Pete Alonso at first, Henderson at short, Ward at DH, Cowser in center, Taveras in right, Jackson Holliday at second, Encarnacion-Strand at third and Tromp catching. Atlanta counters with Drake Baldwin at DH, Ozzie Albies at second, Matt Olson at first, Michael Harris III in center, Mauricio Dubón in left, Austin Riley at third, Eli White in right, Joey Bart at catcher and Mateo at shortstop.
In Other News...
Another Orioles Loss Just Raised The Stakes Around Mike Elias
A close loss to the Braves did not change the larger picture for Baltimore, which is now staring straight at the trade deadline with a decision to make. The Orioles have had enough individual bright spots to keep the conversation from turning purely bleak, but the calendar is forcing the front office to sort out whether this is still a team that can push for a spot in the postseason or one that needs to start cashing in pieces and thinking longer term.
Mike Elias is right in the middle of that conversation, because the next few days could define how aggressively the Orioles move. Trevor Rogers has emerged as one of the more interesting names in the mix if Baltimore does decide to sell, while Kyle Bradishs recent extension is another reminder that not every move on the roster points in the same direction. The result is a familiar deadline tension: a team still trying to compete, but with enough uncertainty around the standings that every loss makes the path a little harder to ignore. [Read more 🡒]
Trevor Rogers Has Forced A Huge Orioles Decision
Trevor Rogers has put the Orioles in a familiar spot for a front office that already locked up Shane Baz and Kyle Bradish before the season: decide whether a pitcher who has helped stabilize the rotation is worth a longer commitment before the market gets involved. A fan survey showed overwhelming support for an extension, and it is easy to see why the idea has traction, but Baltimore still has to weigh the value of acting now against the reality that Rogers has not built the kind of long, steady track record that makes these calls simple.
The timing only sharpens the dilemma, because Rogers is getting close to free agency and the Orioles have to consider every possible path with him. They can try to work out a deal, they can ride out the season and make a qualifying offer, or they can keep the door open to a more complicated decision later if the clubs place in the standings changes. For a team trying to balance present contention with future control, Rogers has become one of the more important names on the board. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles Defensive Mess Sparks Bigger Questions About Accountability
The Orioles defensive problems have gone beyond a bad week or two, and the numbers have started to reflect it. Baltimore has spent the 2026 season near the bottom of the league in errors per game and among the worst teams in unearned runs allowed, a frustrating backdrop for a club that has tried to build around cleaner, sharper baseball. Hall of Famer Mike Bordick, who knows what solid infield play is supposed to look like, has become one of the louder voices calling out the sloppiness and the lack of basic execution.
Bordicks larger concern is not just the miscues themselves, but the way they are being handled. He has pointed to mistakes by both infielders and pitchers, and he believes the Orioles need more direct accountability and more emphasis on fundamentals, especially with Adley Rutschman and Blaze Alexander injured and the margin for error even thinner. He also sees a contrast with the old-school approach Tony Mansolino brought in his interim stint, a style Bordick thinks might better fit a team trying to stop beating itself. [Read more 🡒]