Despite the stress his team’s tight games have often put on him, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said before Sunday’s first-half finale that it was his players, not him, who need the All-Star break.

It actually seems that the midseason reprieve is coming just as the Orioles are taking off. Baltimore ended the first half with a 15-2 win over the Minnesota Twins and will head into the break coming off its largest scoring output, a sweep and a five-game winning streak. It was the Orioles’ second victory in that stretch of at least 13 runs.

At 54-35, the 2023 Orioles posted the franchise’s best first half by winning percentage since 1997. They’ll begin the second half Friday trailing the Tampa Bay Rays by two games for first place in the American League East.

Before this streak, the Orioles scored four or fewer runs in five straight games. They’ve since had six innings of at least four runs, including two Sunday. Entering the fifth inning of a 1-1 tie, Baltimore had struck out 10 times against Twins right-hander Joe Ryan, with All-Star starter Austin Hays’ second-inning solo shot producing their lone run. Ramón Urías broke the tie with a two-run home run, and Ryan recorded only one more out before the Orioles chased him with a pair of walks.

With Minnesota bringing in a left-handed reliever, Hyde pinch-hit Ryan Mountcastle, making his first appearance since June 8 after experiencing vertigo. It was a quick day back, with Mountcastle delivering an RBI single before being replaced with pinch-runner Colton Cowser. Hays then drove in a run with a single before Aaron Hicks punctuated the inning with a three-run home run.

All-Star Adley Rutschman, who will participate in Monday’s Home Run Derby, got some practice in with a two-run shot in the sixth, with the projected distance of 461 feet marking the longest of his career. Anthony Santander followed with a solo blast, Baltimore’s first case of back-to-back home runs this season. Cedric Mullins, Urías and Gunnar Henderson also provided run-scoring hits in the inning, and Santander opened the next with his second home run of the afternoon. The 15 runs scored marked the Orioles’ most this season, surpassing the 14 they scored since Friday against the New York Yankees.

Over their winning streak — which has comes since Cowser, their No. 2 prospect, was promoted to the majors — the Orioles have scored 44 runs after plating 40 in their preceding 12 games.

But their recent success hasn’t all been on the offense. With seven innings of two-run ball, Kyle Gibson provided the Orioles’ seventh straight start of at least six innings. It’s their first such streak since August 2016, Baltimore’s most recent playoff season.

The club enters the break positioned to end that drought. In addition to the narrow deficit in the AL East, the Orioles end the first half with a five-game lead for the AL’s top wild-card spot.

This story will be updated.

MLB All-Star Game

At Seattle’s T-Mobile Park

Tuesday, 8 p.m.

TV: Chs. 45, 5

Marlins at Orioles

Friday, 7:05 p.m.

TV: MASN2

Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM

()