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FOLSOM – Californians on Wednesday are being asked to conserve electricity as predicted high temperatures ramp up energy demand and tighten available power supplies.

The California Independent System Operator, on Tuesday issued a statewide Flex Alert, which will run from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday.

“With above-normal temperatures in the forecast across much of the state tomorrow, the power grid operator is expecting an increase in electricity demand, primarily from air conditioning use, and is calling for voluntary conservation steps to help balance supply and demand,” the ISO said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.

On Tuesday, several Bay Area cities recorded triple-digit temperatures, including 104 degrees in Concord and 101 degrees in Santa Rosa, according to the National Weather Service. Livermore topped out at 107 degrees, breaking the previous record of 105 set in 1951. The heat wave isn’t expected to last long and could begin to subside as soon as Wednesday.

Residents are being urged to take steps to conserve electricity such as turning off all unnecessary lights, delaying use of major appliances until after the alert expires and setting air conditioner thermostats to 78 degrees. The ISO said those actions can help stabilize the grid and prevent additional emergency measures, including power outages.

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For more information on Flex Alerts and to get additional conservation tips visit www.flexalert.org.

By SCHUYLER DIXON

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Elvis Andrus homered against his former team for the first time, Shea Langeliers doubled on the first pitch he saw in the big leagues and the Oakland Athletics beat the Texas Rangers 5-1 on Tuesday night, ending a nine-game losing streak.

Andrus, who spent his first 12 years in the majors with the Rangers before a trade to Oakland going into last season, connected on a two-run shot in the seventh inning in his 31st game against Texas. It was Andrus’ eighth homer this year.

Langeliers grew up watching Andrus at shortstop while playing for a Dallas-area high school. Leading off the second inning to cheers from family and friends in the sparse crowd of 15,260, the 24-year-old lined Kohei Arihara’s pitch down the left field line and scored the second Oakland run.

Sean Murphy hit his longest home run of the season, a 454-foot solo shot in the third. JP Sears pitched five scoreless innings in the former New York Yankees left-hander’s first win with the A’s.

Oakland avoided a second 10-game losing streak this season, which hasn’t happened since the A’s were in Philadelphia in 1945.

The Rangers had a three-game winning streak stopped a day after manager Chris Woodward was fired. Texas beat Oakland in Tony Beasley’s debut as interim manager hours after Monday’s move.

Langeliers, who went to college about 100 miles south of the home of the Rangers at Baylor, was called up from Triple-A Las Vegas. The last-place A’s released veteran outfielder Stephen Piscotty.

The ninth overall pick by Atlanta three years ago, Langeliers was acquired in the March trade that sent Matt Olson to the Braves. Debuting as the designated hitter with plans for him to be the backup catcher, Langeliers struck out his last three times up.

Arihara (0-1) allowed six hits the first time through the order in his first start for Texas since last September. The Japanese right-hander had spent the entire season with Triple-A Round Rock.

Pitching five days after his 30th birthday, Arihara settled down and tied his career highs of 5 2/3 innings and six strikeouts while allowing eight hits and three runs.

Sears (4-0) had allowed five walks in 31 1/3 innings all season with the Yankees and A’s when he walked the bases loaded with one out in the fifth. Sears escaped when right fielder Seth Brown made a running catch in foul ground on Marcus Semien’s fly ball, and Leody Taveras got caught in a rundown between third and home.

ROSTER SHUFFLING

The Rangers designated OF Elier Hernandez for assignment to make room for Arihara. Texas also recalled INF/OF Mark Mathias from Round Rock and optioned RHP Yerry Rodriguez to the Triple-A club. The Rangers signed C Wilson Ramos to a minor league contract with plans to assign him to Round Rock.

The A’s called up 1B David MacKinnon along with Langeliers. They are the 53rd and 54th players for the A’s this season, matching the Oakland record reached twice previously (2007, 2017). The A’s also placed center fielder Ramón Laureano on the injured list with left side soreness.

TRAINER’S ROOM

A’s: All-Star RHP Paul Blackburn will miss the rest of the season with tendon damage in his right middle finger. A decision on surgery should come near the end of the season. Regardless, Blackburn is expected to be ready for spring training.

UP NEXT

Oakland RHP Adam Oller (1-5, 7.26 ERA) and Texas LHP Cole Ragans (0-1, 4.82) are set for a matchup of rookies in the third game of the four-game series. Oller is on his fourth stint with the A’s. Ragans is set for his third big league start.

___

More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

In modern times, presidential vacations often provide periods of relaxation interrupted by moments of crisis. President Biden spent the last week on Kiawah Island in South Carolina.

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By STEVE PEOPLES and MEAD GRUVER

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, Donald Trump’s fiercest Republican adversary in Congress, was defeated in a GOP primary Tuesday, falling to a rival backed by the former president in a contest that reinforced his grip on the party’s base.

The third-term congresswoman and her allies entered the day downbeat about her prospects, aware that Trump’s backing gave Harriet Hageman considerable lift in the state where he won by the largest margin during the 2020 campaign. Cheney was already looking ahead to a political future beyond Capitol Hill that could include a 2024 presidential run, potentially putting her on another collision course with Trump.

Cheney described her loss as the beginning of a new chapter in her political career as she addressed a small collection of supporters, including her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, on the edge of a vast field flanked by mountains and bales of hay.

“Our work is far from over,” she said Tuesday evening. Hinting at a presidential bid of her own, she later added, “I have said since Jan. 6 that I will do whatever it takes to ensure Donald Trump is never again anywhere near the Oval Office — and I mean it.”

Four hundred miles to the east, festive Hageman supporters gathered at a sprawling outdoor rodeo and Western culture festival in Cheyenne, many wearing cowboy boots, hats and blue jeans.

“Obviously we’re all very grateful to President Trump, who recognizes that Wyoming has only one congressional representative and we have to make it count,” Hageman said.

The results were a powerful reminder of the GOP’s rapid shift to the right. A party once dominated by national security-oriented, business-friendly conservatives like her father now belongs to Trump, animated by his populist appeal and, above all, his denial of defeat in the 2020 election.

Echoing Trump, Hageman, a ranching industry attorney, falsely claimed the 2020 election was “rigged” as she courted Trump loyalists.

Such lies, which have been roundly rejected by federal and state election officials along with Trump’s own attorney general and judges he appointed, transformed Cheney from an occasional critic of the former president to the clearest voice inside the GOP warning that he represents a threat to democratic norms.

Trump and his team celebrated Cheney’s loss from afar, having spent much of the day railing against the FBI on social media. Just eight days earlier, federal agents executing a search warrant recovered 11 sets of classified records from his Florida state.

Trump called Cheney’s loss “a complete rebuke” of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Cheney is the panel’s vice chair.

“Liz Cheney should be ashamed of herself, the way she acted, and her spiteful, sanctimonious words and actions towards others,” he wrote on his social media platform. “Now she can finally disappear into the depths of political oblivion where, I am sure, she will be much happier than she is right now. Thank you WYOMING!”

Cheney’s defeat would have been unthinkable just two years ago. The daughter of a former vice president, she hails from one of the most prominent political families in Wyoming. And in Washington, she was the No. 3 House Republican, an influential voice in GOP politics and policy with a sterling conservative voting record.

But after the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters, Cheney voted to impeach Trump and made it her primary mission to ensure he never again serves in the Oval Office. She pushed past GOP censures and death threats to serve as a leader on the congressional panel investigating Trump’s role in the insurrection.

Cheney will now be forced from Congress at the end of her third and final term in January. She is not expected to leave Capitol Hill quietly.

She will continue in her leadership role on the congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 attack until it dissolves at the end of the year. And she is actively considering a 2024 White House bid — as a Republican or independent — having vowed to do everything in her power to fight Trump’s influence in her party.

So far, it is a one-sided fight.

Tuesday’s primary contests in Wyoming and, to a lesser extent, Alaska demonstrated the enduring strength of Trump and his brand of hard-line politics ahead of the November midterm elections. So far, the former president has helped install loyalists who parrot his conspiracy theories in general election matchups from Pennsylvania to Arizona.

In Alaska, another Trump ally, former Gov. Sarah Palin, hoped to step into the national spotlight Tuesday as well.

The 58-year-old 2008 vice presidential nominee was actually on the ballot twice: once in a special election to complete former Rep. Don Young’s term and another for a full two-year House term starting in January.

On the other side of the GOP’s tent, a periodic Trump critic, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, had an opportunity to survive the former president’s ire, even after voting to convict him in his second impeachment trial. The top four Senate candidates in Alaska, regardless of party, will advance to the November general election, where voters will rank them in order of preference.

With Cheney’s loss, Republicans who voted to impeach Trump are going extinct.

In all, seven Republican senators and 10 Republican House members backed Trump’s impeachment in the days after his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol as Congress tried to certify President Joe Biden’s victory. Just two of those 10 House members have won their primaries this year. After two Senate retirements, Murkowski remains the only such Senate Republican on this year’s ballot.

In Wyoming, Cheney had been forced to seek assistance from the state’s tiny Democratic minority. But Democrats across America, major donors among them, took notice. She raised at least $15 million for her election, a stunning figure for a Wyoming political contest.

But the makeup of Wyoming’s deeply Republican electorate was too much to overcome. As of Aug. 1, 2022, there were 285,000 registered voters in Wyoming, including 40,000 Democrats and 208,000 Republicans. Trump earned nearly 70% of the vote in 2016 and 2020.

If Cheney does ultimately run for president — either as a Republican or an independent — don’t expect her to win Wyoming’s three electoral votes.

“We like Trump. She tried to impeach Trump,” Cheyenne voter Chester Barkell said of Cheney on Tuesday. “I don’t trust Liz Cheney.”

And in Jackson, Republican voter Dan Winder said he felt betrayed by his congresswoman.

“Over 70% of the state of Wyoming voted Republican in the last presidential election and she turned right around and voted against us,” said Winder, a hotel manager. “She was our representative, not her own.”

There was no sign that the FBI’s recent search of Trump’s Florida estate played any role in Tuesday’s elections.

Just last week, federal agents seized several sets of classified materials from Trump’s home, including some marked “sensitive compartmented information,” a special category meant to protect the nation’s most important secrets. Republicans across the country initially rallied behind the former president, although the reaction turned somewhat mixed as more details emerged.

Anti-Trump Republicans across the country cheered Cheney’s willingness to challenge Trump even as they expressed disappointment in her loss.

“What’s remarkable is that in the face of almost certain defeat she’s never once wavered,” said Sarah Longwell, executive director of the Republican Accountability Project. “We’ve been watching a national American figure be forged. It’s funny how small the election feels — the Wyoming election — because she feels bigger than it now.”

___

Peoples reported from New York. AP writers Thomas Peipert in Cheyenne and Jill Colvin in new York contributed.

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Three weeks later, Chicago Cubs left-hander Justin Steele laughs at how close he came to making history.

The notable statistic highlighted the effectiveness of Steele’s four-seam fastball and his ability to suppress hitters from slugging against the pitch. It has been his strength the entire season, limiting barreled balls and turning him into a more efficient pitcher.

Steele’s fastball certainly has been on opposing teams’ scouting reports, but one element had largely gone under the radar leading into his July 22 start in Philadelphia.

Steele was on the verge of setting a pitch-tracking record, needing only 21 four-seam fastballs to throw the most without allowing a home run on the pitch. He was looking to surpass former San Diego Padres closer Heath Bell’s 807 fastballs in 2010.

Steele saw a tweet with the record-setting information before his start.

“Why did I just read that? Because I was like, it’s totally going to happen tonight,” Steele recalled Monday to the Tribune.

Steele’s thought proved prescient. Former Cubs slugger Kyle Schwarber jumped on the first pitch Steele threw that night at Citizens Bank Park — a 90.8 mph four-seam fastball that Schwarber hit over the right-field wall. Homerless streak over.

The next day, Steele spoke to Schwarber, who told him he also had seen the tweet pregame.

“It’s just how things work,” a smiling Steele said. “I know if I wouldn’t have read that that day and not known anything, it wouldn’t have happened probably.”

Steele entered Tuesday’s start against the Washington Nationals with his four-seam fastball accounting for 57.2% of his pitches thrown. He relied on fewer fastballs than average in the 7-5, 11-inning win at Nationals Park but still produced a quality start, his seventh of the season.

Steele allowed one unearned run on six hits over six innings with two walks and five strikeouts. He lowered his ERA to 3.43, the best among Cubs starters.

Pitching coach Tommy Hottovy joked that Steele’s fastball is consistently inconsistent. When Steele throws his four-seam fastball at a slightly lower velocity, it creates more cut, while a velocity increase produces ride and carry on the ball.

At times, the data will make it appear that Steele is throwing two different fastballs because of the movement profile. His ability to change the action on his fastball prevents hitters from trying to cheat on the pitch when they hunt for a fastball.

On days Steele pounds the pitch inside, he produces more ground balls. His swing-and-miss-heavy starts feature a fastball that has more ride and movement.

“When it gets on you, even at like 90-91 mph, and it’s a short arm stroke and it’s got late movement, it cuts, it rides,” Hottovy told the Tribune. “So it’s one of those pitches that not a lot of hitters see.

“Location matters for him. When he focuses up in the zone, it’s going to have more carry, and when he focuses down, especially down and in to righties, it’s going to have more cut. That’s the way his body moves.”

Steele has relied predominantly on a two-pitch mix with his fastball and slider — combining to throw them for 87.4% of his pitches — and the lefty knows he needs a reliable third pitch.

That Steele has found consistent success without a third pitch indicates how effectively his fastball-slider combination and pitch movement work in the big leagues. He has worked to maintain consistent mechanics. Sometimes he develops a habit of his body getting in front of his legs, causing his arm to drag and try to catch up to the rest of his delivery, which can affect his command.

“I’ve had so much success with it this year because it has that cutting action and it’s not like a typical fastball,” Steele said. “Most guys when they throw a fastball, it’s going to go and it’s going to start running. I’m on the side of it and just continues to go inside to righties the entire time, which is why it’s not a fastball that you’re used to seeing.

“A big part this year is staying over my backside and having consistency in my delivery, and I would say the byproduct is I’ve been a lot more consistent around the zone.”

Steele sees his changeup, which he has used only 1.6% (29 pitches) this year, as a secondary pitch he can elevate into a usable third option, especially when he wants to throw something moving away from right-handed hitters. He wants to get the point where he is confident in all five of his pitches and comfortable using them in any count.

“The evolution of pitchers is you’re young, you’ve probably got a couple of pitches that play in the zone,” Cubs manager David Ross said. “As you become more established, more of a veteran, you continue to add pitches and sequencing and locations to your repertoire.

“I’m really happy where he’s at. He’s doing a really nice job. I love that he wants to get better. I love that mentality.”

It all comes back to his unique fastball, though. Generating two pitch movements off his fastball gives Steele multiple ways to use one pitch. The next step is learning how to fully harness the natural cut, which remains an ongoing process.

“Instead of just throwing it,” Steele said, “I’m starting to pitch with it.”

()

Our critic finds that a new biopic series on the CW prefers contemporary clichés to exploring what actually made the artist fascinating.

This summer, the Seattle Police Department has around 950 sworn staff members, compared to around 1,300 from 2013-19. Mayor Bruce Harrell wants to bring staffing to 1,450.

MORGAN HILL – Authorities are asking for the public’s help in identifying the owner of a car believed to be connected to a fatal shooting last month in Morgan Hill.

Humberto Cossio, 33, of Morgan Hill, was shot and killed just after 9 p.m. on July 20 as he walked southbound through the intersection of Monterey Road and Spring Avenue, the Morgan Hill Police Department said in a statement.

The Morgan Hill Police Department is asking for the public’s help in identifying the owner of the white Nissan Sentra pictured here. The car has been linked to the fatal shooting of 33-year-old Humberto Cossio on July 20 at Monterey Road and Spring Avenue. 

Prior to the shooting, Cossio was involved in a verbal confrontation with a group of people on nearby Ciolino Avenue, according to police.

A white Nissan Sentra linked to the homicide was last seen traveling westbound on Spring Avenue, police said.

Authorities have not identified any suspects in the fatal shooting.

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Anyone with information related to the case can contact Detective Adrian Sapien at 669-253-4995 or adrian.sapien@morganhill.com. Anonymous tips can be submitted at www.morgan-hill.ca.gov/FormCenter/Police-14/Morgan-Hill-Crime-Stoppers-88 or 800-222-TIPS (8477).

The scoring drought is over, but the Yankees are still looking for that “spark.” The Bombers scored a run for the first time in three games, but the Rays’ stable of pitchers held the Yankees’ struggling offense to just that and took a 3-1 win at the Stadium Tuesday night.

The Yankees (72-45) have lost three straight, 11 of their last 13 and are 3-11 in the month of August. Since the All-Star break, the Bombers have gone 8-17. The Rays (62-53) handed the Yankees their fourth straight series loss — tying the total series losses they had in the first half — and cut the Yankees’ lead in the American League East to eight games in the loss column. It’s just the second time since June 15 that the Bombers’ lead in the division has been under 10 games.

Nestor Cortes gave the Yankees seven solid innings. He allowed three runs — all in the first inning — on four hits. He did not walk a batter and struck out three. Yandy Diaz and Isaac Paredes led off with back-to-back singles and Randy Arozarena homered with one out to put the Yankees behind 3-0 before their lineup even got a chance.

Andrew Benintendi tripled off the right-center field wall with one out in the fifth. He came around and scored when Yandy Diaz bobbled Miguel Andujar’s ground ball. It was the first time the Yankees had scored a run since the ninth inning of Saturday night’s game.

But the offense that was once rolling over teams has been struggling. The Yankees have scored nine runs over their last 61 innings, spanning seven games.

“I think we’ve got a lot of key pieces out. First and foremost, I would say that that’s at the top of the list of things that we were trying to get right,” Yankees hitting coach Dillon Lawson said.  “Right now we’re missing (Giancarlo) Stanton, who is looking forward to when he comes back. (Matt) Carpenter is out right now. So that’s two of your top five hitters and then DJ (LeMahieu) is out day to day or whatever he’s listed as, so then there’s your third one. And I think one of our biggest strengths for the entire season is the depth of the lineup.  And so, right now, one of our biggest strengths is no longer there.”

Tuesday it was Benintendi, the No.6 hitter, and Andujar behind him, who got the Yankees started.

With Stanton and LeMahieu missing and Rizzo struggling since coming back from missing five games with lower back tightness, a lot has fallen on guys like Gleyber Torres, Josh Donaldson and Jose Trevino.

“We’ve been able to wear pitchers down,” Lawson said of the Yankees earlier offensive success. “They may get through a three or four hole hit and now you still got two or three guys with game ending type of impact. So that’s probably the biggest difference so far.”

The Yankees have averaged over five runs a game this season, but have scored just over three on average over the last two weeks. Lawson emphasized that they were still looking for ways to get better back when they were rolling over teams and they continue to do so now.

“We were. even as we were going good… constantly just evaluating the process, not resting on the fact that we’re winning games. Is it good baseball? Is it a good process? Is it what we need to be able to do later on in the season? And so for us now, that gives us comfort, going through this knowing that hey, like the process is good,” Lawson said. “You continue with this process. It allowed us to play at a high level before you know it’s constantly adjusting. It’s not to say that we’re blind to any new changes or anything like that, but I think there’s always a healthy sense of insecurity or paranoia like, are we good enough? Is this okay, let’s continue to get better. Let’s keep pecking away. And taking steps forward, even though we’re the best offense in baseball.”

()

ATLANTA — Charlie Morton is a very good pitcher, sometimes even a great one.

But when the 38-year-old Braves’ starter picked the Mets apart on Tuesday night, it seemed like there was something else plaguing the orange and blue besides Morton’s curveball.

As Atlanta sailed to a 5-0 win, the Mets lost another starting pitcher to injury. Taijuan Walker followed Carlos Carrasco’s two-inning exit on Monday with one of his own. It was a low-grade oblique strain for Carrasco, while the Mets are pinning Walker’s short night on back spasms.

Tuesday night’s loss can also largely be pinned on those back spasms, which sent Buck Showalter scrambling to the anonymous part of his bullpen. R.J. Alvarez, called up from Triple-A a few hours before first pitch, had to take the first shift. The second batter he faced was Robbie Grossman, a deadline acquisition for Atlanta who, statistically speaking, is among the 20 worst hitters in the game this year (minimum 300 plate appearances).

Grossman’s 105 mile per hour, no-doubt dinger certainly didn’t look like it came from one of the worst hitters in the league.

That missile into right field put the Braves ahead by one, and some stellar defense from the Mets helped briefly limit the damage. Catcher Michael Perez fielded a wayward Alvarez pitch off the brick backstop and threw out Ronald Acuna Jr. trying to advance to second, and second baseman Jeff McNeil ended the inning with a super impressive running catch into shallow right.

Good defense can only take you so far, though, especially when Matt Olson connected for a two-run shot off Alvarez the next inning and the Mets’ hitters were zapped of their abilities. Morton looked like a much younger man on Tuesday. The right-hander who debuted before Obama was elected (the first time) struck out 12 Mets and only let four reach base.

Four of those K’s were courtesy of his sinister curveball, which he trusted on 48 of his 97 pitches. The ovation Morton received on his way out was well-deserved and his outing was reminiscent of the playoff performances that made him famous. Starling Marte, Pete Alonso, Daniel Vogelbach and Jeff McNeil each struck out twice against Morton.

This Mets’ season full of peaks is currently stuck in one of its rare valleys. Injuries will do that to you, and two starting pitchers going down in less than 48 hours is definitely suboptimal, which may have taken a mental toll on the offense. Again, Morton was fantastic, but some of the swings from the Mets were uncharacteristic of the bunch that won 75 of its first 115 games.

Injuries played a role in that too, as the eight and nine hitters in the order were both in the Mets’ starting lineup for the first time. Deven Marrero, batting eighth, and Michael Perez, hitting ninth, were not part of the plan as recently as three days ago.

Stephen Nogosek, known more for his beautiful mustache than his pitching, took the ball after Alvarez and chewed through two innings. A slight silver lining for the Mets is the fact that they got through these first two games in Atlanta, both uncompetitive losses, without completely overworking their bullpen.

Edwin Diaz, Adam Ottavino and Trevor May are all fresh for the final two games, when the Mets will try to salvage a split in this series. They also do not have an off day until next Wednesday, with the Phillies and Yankees in their path, so keeping as many relievers as fresh as possible until then will be a priority.

The Mets have been punched in the mouth for the last two nights. There’s no way around it. All of the players are human, and therefore not immune to the bad feelings that come with watching their teammates hit the trainer’s table.

Fortunately for them, just like they dreamt of during the cold, disorienting days of the MLB lockout, those games will be pitched by Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom.

()

A conservative cancel culture as unforgiving as its progressive rival is sweeping over the Wyoming G.O.P.

Liz Cheney's sustained criticism of former President Trump made her one of his top political targets. She has pledged her chief goal is to make sure he never wins back the White House.

(Image credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

For all his talents, Adley Rutschman’s greatest strength might just be his ability to discern balls from strikes, a model of the swing decision-based development plan that floods the Orioles’ minor league system. At times, it’s burned him, with his awareness of the strike zone perhaps sharper than that night’s home-plate umpire.

On Tuesday, when he dropped his bat head on Toronto Blue Jays ace Alek Manoah’s slider just below the strike zone, he showed that the area in which he can do damage is expansive. His solo shot came two pitches after Cedric Mullins also delivered one, with the back-to-back home runs evening a game the Orioles eventually won, 4-2, to move within half a game of Toronto for an American League wild-card spot.

The Orioles (61-55) were eight games under .500 when Rutschman, then the game’s top prospect, was called up to the majors for the first time, and he has been transformative on both sides of the ball. In his past 54 games — a span represent a third of a full major league season — the 24-year-old has hit .283/.395/.516 with 22 doubles, seven home runs and a 36-to-34 strikeout-to-walk ratio to firmly plant himself within the AL Rookie of the Year race.

Working behind the plate, he guided starter Dean Kremer through some early rough innings, including throwing out an attempted base stealer in the bottom of the seventh. Kremer finished seven innings despite facing a 2-0 deficit two batters into his outing.

The home runs from Mullins and Rutschman erased that. Manoah had allowed one hit the first two times through Baltimore’s lineup, with a single from Rougned Odor prompting a storm of boos for a player still unpopular in Toronto for punching José Bautista in the face six years ago while with the Texas Rangers.

Terrin Vavra, who like Rutschman is a rookie who works counts, drew a one-out walk off Manoah, moved to second on an Odor groundout and scored on a single from Ramón Urías. Ryan McKenna, in the lineup against a right-handed starter after recording his first three-hit game, drove home Urías with another knock.

Baltimore’s offense was unproductive outside of those two frames, but Kremer, Dillon Tate and Félix Bautista made those runs stand as the Orioles won a fifth straight matchup against the Blue Jays, matching their victory tally in last year’s season series.

Mean Dean

After an infield single began his night, Kremer surrendered a home run to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to put the Orioles in an early two-run hole. When he walked off the mound after the seventh inning, those two runs remained all the Blue Jays scored.

Kremer tied his career high with those seven frames, recovering from early trouble for the Orioles’ deepest start since Jordan Lyles pitched seven innings July 12.

Toronto loaded the bases against Kremer with one out in the third, but he got Matt Chapman to ground into the double play for a scoreless inning. That began a stretch in which he retired 11 of 12 Blue Jays, with a bunt single from Santiago Espinal spoiling it.

But Rutschman threw out Espinal trying to steal second before Odor ranged to his left for an inning-ending groundout, with Ryan Mountcastle making a strong pick at first base.

Tate worked a quick eighth before Bautista struck out two in the ninth for the save.

Playoff picture

On top of being half a game behind the Blue Jays with the chance to surpass them with a sweep Wednesday, the Orioles kept pace with the Tampa Bay Rays, who remained 1 1/2 games in front of Baltimore in the wild-card race by again beating the New York Yankees.

The Seattle Mariners, who entered the day holding the top of the three wild-card spots with a two-game lead on the Orioles, did not begin play until late Tuesday.

This story will be updated.

ORIOLES@BLUE JAYS

Wednesday, 3:07 p.m.

TV: MASN2

Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM

()

Emma Raducanu beat Williams in straight sets in the first round at the Western and Southern Open. Williams’s next tournament, and quite possibly her last, will be the U.S. Open.

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SAN FRANCISCO — Two-and-a-half years since making his major league debut, with seemingly a lifetime of struggles behind him, Joey Bart no longer sees himself as a rookie. He’s comfortable in the clubhouse and, more importantly, at the plate.

“I guess I’m still a rookie,” Bart said, laughing, after a 3-for-4 performance in Monday night’s win. “It’ll never end.”

But more than ever, Bart has entrenched himself as a part of the Giants future and a key piece for the remainder of this season with his 180 at the plate. A mechanical tweak here, a mental reset there, and Bart has gone from one of the most hopeless at-bats in the majors — nobody was striking out at a higher rate — to one of the league’s top offensive catchers.

Bart’s comments came after he hit safely in his seventh straight game, raising his average to .233 and his OPS to .727. According to OPS+, a metric which measures park-adjusted offensive performance against the league average, Bart’s hot stretch has made him a better-than-average bat behind the plate.

Since returning from a monthlong stint at Triple-A on July 6, Bart has hit .314 with five home runs and an .868 OPS. The same player who was striking out in a league-worst 45.4% of his at-bats before being sent down is now whiffing in about 32.5% of his at-bats, or right around league average.

His numbers over his seven-game hitting streak are absurd — 14-for-28, two homers, a double, multiple hits in five of those games — but his growing track record suggests some version of it is sustainable.

“It’s been a stretch of performance now that’s starting to feel like we can build on it,” Kapler said. “It’s a testament to his toughness. It’s very difficult to go through what he went through. … What stands out to me the most is how much respect he’s earned with his toughness. I think it’s really fulfilling for everyone to see him have this success.”

Maybe the most impressive part of Bart’s turnaround has been that it has come in the middle of a season. Yes, Bart is still technically a rookie, but this wasn’t the case of a first-year player taking time to adjust to major-league pitching. This was a player who looked lost at the plate and made wholesale changes to correct course.

The Giants wanted to cut down as much unnecessary movement as possible in his swing and make his path to the ball more direct. The mechanical differences are clear to an informed observer.

Look at a clip of any given strikeout from his first stint in the majors, and you’ll see Bart waving the bat like wand as he waits for the pitch, then cocking his hands before starting his motion to the ball. Now, Bart leans back, bat upright, stoic and still as he waits for the pitcher to start his delivery. As he starts his swing, the bat moves directly toward the ball.

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“It was just getting him in a stronger position for his set up, which we do with most guys. We just tried to kill some wasted movement,” hitting coach Justin Viele said in interview after Bart’s demotion. “When you’re in the battle every single night, it’s hard to make those adjustments because you have to go perform. But we got Joey in a pretty good space where he didn’t have to go perform each night. He could actually work on some things that we wanted to work on.

“Main thing, it was his set up, getting a little bit stronger in his base and shedding some of the wasted movement.”

The biggest difference, Kapler believes, was mental.

Before dispatching him to Sacramento, the Giants let Bart clear his head with a few days away from the game. Even at Triple-A, he was able to work on his offensive game without worrying about managing a major-league pitching staff.

“Probably more important than anything else, he looked refreshed,” Kapler said of his impressions of Bart upon returning to the big club. “Like there had been a weight lifted. It just looked like he got some rest.”