BALTIMORE -- Hoping the toughest stretch of their season to date coincided with their roughest patch of schedule, the Orioles returned home for Memorial Day to embark on a much different stretch. After three weeks spent exclusively playing contending teams, four of the next five series for the Orioles come against teams with .500 records or below.\n\nThat qualifies as a reprieve for a rebuilding club that’s spent good chunks of the past month suffering emotional losses at the hands of some of the Majors’ top squads. They opened it by notching a 5-3 win over the Tigers on Monday at Camden Yards, marking a positive start to what will be, in all likelihood, the softest run of schedule they’ll see this side of the All-Star break.\n\n• [Box score](https://www.mlb.com/orioles/gameday/564956/final/box)\n\n“Today was a really great team win, we all went out there and played 100 percent,” said
“It’s just the mentality of enough’s enough,” said Straily, whose move to the bullpen came on the heels of an eight-start stretch during which he pitched to an 8.10 ERA. “I’ve had five days to sit in the bullpen and think; do some self-evaluation. It’s been a frustrating month. After I gave up the first run, it just kind of clicked. Enough is enough.”\n\nStraily struck out four and retired 11 of the final 13 batters he faced to put Baltimore in a position to capture a series victory for the first time in a month by the time
Whether or not that becomes a trend, only time will tell. But with two more games remaining against Detroit and upcoming series against the Giants, Rangers and Blue Jays, the opportunity for the Orioles to build on days like Monday is plain to see.\n\nHere are a few more observations from before, during and after their cleanest win in some time.\n\n**Nunez locked in again**\n\nThink Nunez is streaky? After hitting two home runs over his first 19 games, Nunez collected four across a five-game stretch in late April. He then totaled one during his next 20 contests, hitting .111 with a walk in that stretch. He’s now gone deep six times in his last eight games, most recently a two-run, first-inning shot off the left-field foul pole.
Nunez was also the recipient of a run-scoring, three-base throwing error by
“It has to be the information and preparation I’ve been doing before the games, sitting in the video room and having a plan, and sticking to that plan when the game comes,” Nunez said. “That’s how baseball is. Sometimes you get hot, sometimes you’re not hitting. You always have to keep it up and keep working.”
It adds up to a nearly 40-home run pace for the 25-year-old, whose previous career high of eight came last season.\n\n“Just a short time ago, he was in a little bit of a rut, and he’s bounced back great,” Hyde said. “Something kind of clicks and you start seeing the ball a little longer, and find it. Nuney is swinging the bat great for us right now.”\n\n**Change is in the air**\n\nHyde lauded Straily’s efforts in part because the Orioles were again short in the bullpen despite the club carrying nine relievers at the expense of a two-man bench. That changed when they optioned Evan Phillips late Monday afternoon, sending the right-hander to Triple-A Norfolk for the third time this month.\n\nUnlike the other instances, the Orioles are likely to replace Phillips with a position player, the most obvious candidate being DJ Stewart, Baltimore's [No.15 prospect](http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2019?list=bal) per MLB Pipeline. Stewart has been raking to the tune of a .447 average with five homers in May, but was blocked as recently as this weekend before
**Ramirez traded to Pirates** \n\nMonday also marked the end of