Now that they’re guaranteed to win a home series for the first time since May, the Baltimore Orioles look to tack on more success before the visiting Kansas City Royals leave town.

The teams complete a three-game series Sunday afternoon in the final game before the All-Star break. Both teams occupy last place in their respective American League divisions.

“We’ve got to win as many games as possible,” Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said. “Our guys know that.”

The Orioles won for the second night in a row with Saturday’s 6-1 decision. That sent Kansas City to its fourth consecutive defeat.

Baltimore is enjoying a three-game winning streak, but the Orioles have yet to win four in a row this year, failing in each of their first seven chances to do so.

Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman has at least one hit in seven of nine games this month — while drawing two walks in one of the other games. He’ll be going to the All-Star Game for the third time in the coming week.

“For me, it’s just a culmination of that to be able to get here now and to just kind of continue to progress,” said Rutschman, whose batting average dipped to .253 with Saturday’s 0-for-4 line.

The Orioles used power strokes in Saturday’s game, with four of their six hits leaving the yard. They stranded only one runner on base.

Albernaz said there was a buzz in the stadium from the get-go and that makes a difference.

“You felt (the energy) from the crowd, and our boys felt that,” Albernaz said of the energy.

The Royals should get another look at first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino in the lineup. He returned to action Saturday night after nearly a month on the injury list with a hand ailment. He went 0-for-3 with one walk.

“At the end of the day, you got to put numbers up,” Pasquantino said. “That’s the name of this game. Just do whatever I can to help this team put wins on the scoreboard.”

Right-hander Shane Baz (4-9, 4.21 ERA) will be the second nine-loss starter to work in as many days for the Orioles. He has lost his last three decisions, with his last victory coming one month ago from Sunday.

Baz didn’t record a decision in an April 21 outing at Kansas City despite allowing four runs and eight hits in 6 1/3 innings. In three career starts vs. the Royals, he’s 1-1 with a 4.95 ERA over 20 innings.

Right-hander Seth Lugo (3-6, 4.56) will start for Kansas City after a rough outing Tuesday against the New York Mets, who dinged him for nine runs (six earned) on nine hits in 4 1/3 innings. He didn’t take the loss, though, with the Royals pulling out a 16-12 win.

Still. Lugo has only one victory since May 24. On the flip side, he fired seven shutout innings against visiting Baltimore in an April 20 game, though he didn’t factor into the decision that day in Kansas City’s 12-inning 7-5 loss. He has faced the Orioles five times (three starts), with a 1-1 record and 2.01 ERA covering 22 1/3 innings.

After winning two of three games at Kansas City in April, Baltimore has already clinched the season series against the Royals ahead of the final game between them.

–Field Level Media

The New York Yankees will go for the series sweep against the Washington Nationals on Sunday as the teams close out the first half and enter the All-Star break.

After losing 11 of 13 games, the Yankees have won three straight, the last two coming via dramatic late-inning comebacks against the struggling Nationals bullpen.

On Friday night, the Yankees hit two home runs in a three-run ninth and won 5-3. Saturday, they smacked three homers in a four-run eighth and beat the Nationals 4-2.

In the finale, New York turns to right-hander Will Warren (7-4, 4.15 ERA), who will be opposed by Washington right-hander Cade Cavalli (5-4, 3.88).

The Yankees are 12-6 overall in Warren’s starts this season but have lost his last four as he has pitched to a 6.53 ERA and given up six home runs in that stretch. In his last start, Warren allowed six runs on seven hits (three of them homers) in four innings of a 6-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday.

Warren gave up back-to-back homers to Hunter Feduccia and Yandy Diaz in a four-run fourth inning.

“I didn’t do a good job of landing my offspeed early, so they were selling out to the fastball,” Warren said.

The 27-year-old Warren has never faced the Nationals.

Cavalli returns after a five-game suspension for his part in a bench-clearing scuffle against the Red Sox at Fenway Park on June 30. That day, he tossed seven strong innings, striking out a career-high 13 while allowing one unearned run and picking up the win. Last time out on July 5, he lasted just 2 1/3 innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates and gave up four runs (three earned).

Cavalli threw just 63 pitches and told Nats Journal he was feeling light-headed on a hot, humid Sunday afternoon.

“It was just a really weird feeling that I was having,” he said. “But it’s no excuse for how I threw the ball. I wanted to go out there and compete for my guys and not have the physical strain of how I was feeling affect anything.”

Cavalli lost his only previous start against New York, allowing eight runs (seven earned) in 2 1/3 innings last August.

After lefty-lefty matchups failed on Friday, Nationals manager Blake Butera went righty-lefty on Saturday with similar negative results. Right-handed relievers Orlando Ribalta and Clayton Beeter combined to surrender home runs to left-handed batters Ryan McMahon and Trent Grisham as well as righty Paul Goldschmidt.

“I’m searching right now,” Butera said. “I talked about it after last night’s game, obviously reevaluating what we’re doing. And today, you saw we had a little different approach there at the end. Wanted to give our best relievers a shot to help us win the game. And it didn’t go our way.”

James Wood had three hits including a homer for Washington, and Curtis Mead had a homer and a single.

New York was shut out for seven innings by a trio of Washington pitchers before striking in the eighth.

“Just some really good winning at-bats when we needed it,” manager Aaron Boone said. “(We) were held down. One of those days a little similar to (Friday) night, where we got some opportunities and can’t cash in, but a lot of big at-bats late.”

–Field Level Media

Right-hander Trent Thornton is emerging as a much-needed weapon in the Chicago Cubs’ bullpen, which is exceeding expectations while closer Daniel Palencia remains sidelined with right elbow inflammation.

Thornton has made four straight scoreless outings for the Cubs, who face the host Cincinnati Reds in the rubber match of a three-game series on Sunday.

Chicago evened the series with a 5-3 win on Saturday. Alex Bregman hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the seventh inning and Carson Kelly added a solo shot for Chicago, which won for the fourth time in its last six games.

The Reds had runners on second and third in the ninth inning before Thornton entered and retired Sal Stewart on a grounder to second base for his third save.

“He’s doing a heck of a job,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “He’s got guts; he’s got big guts. Credit to him. At the end of the game, that last out in the ninth inning is a difficult out. Thorny has certainly stepped up when we needed it.”

Counsell used five relievers and continues to juggle roles without Palencia, who is not expected to return until later this month.

“When the phone rings (in the bullpen), they don’t necessarily know who it’s going to be,” Counsell said. “But they’re all doing their jobs really well. I couldn’t be happier with what they’re doing.”

Cincinnati is looking to head into the All-Star break on a high note after losing Saturday for the fifth time in its last eight games. Nathaniel Lowe, Eugenio Suarez and JJ Bleday each hit solo homers for the Reds, who went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

“We had some really good at-bats and we drove the ball out of the ballpark,” Reds manager Terry Francona said. “But when you don’t have a ton of opportunities, if you don’t cash in, it becomes more glaring.”

The pitching matchup for the series finale features a pair of left-handers as Chicago’s Matthew Boyd (4-1, 4.31 ERA) opposes Cincinnati’s Andrew Abbott (5-5, 3.92).

Boyd, 35, pitched six scoreless innings in a 5-2 road victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday.

“He was really good,” Bregman said. “I thought the fastball was really good. The slider was good, and the curveball, too. He was in a rhythm.”

Boyd is 2-0 with a 1.72 ERA in three starts since coming off the injured list. He has been limited to eight starts this season due to two separate IL stints.

Eugenio Suarez is 1-for-12 with six strikeouts all-time against Boyd, who is 1-3 with a 6.48 ERA in five career starts versus Cincinnati.

The Reds will counter with Abbott, 27, who allowed three runs over six innings in a 4-1 home loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday.

Abbott retired the first seven batters before running into trouble in the third, when Kyle Schwarber capped a three-run outburst with a two-run homer.

“I kept a good offense pretty quiet other than one mistake,” Abbott said. “But then again, Schwarber is a good hitter. Fastball is one of my best pitches. He just put a good swing on it.”

Dansby Swanson is 6-for-17 (.353) with two homers against Abbott, who is 3-1 with a 2.23 ERA in eight career starts versus the Cubs.

–Field Level Media