Just hours before the famously road-worn, rebuilding Orioles swept the first-place Astros at Minute Maid Park -- their 5-2 win Wednesday finishing off their finest series of the season -- manager Brandon Hyde described them as “sort of limping into the All-Star break.”

Maybe that’s true from a roster standpoint, the O’s short on pitching on a daily basis lately, for a variety of reasons. But on the field, they’re thriving, suddenly playing some of their best baseball of the year at the season’s midway point.

• Box score

Baltimore’s victory in its 81st game of the year was one of its cleanest and most collective yet, as it notched its first three-game sweep since the season’s opening weekend. And it came only a week after the Orioles were swept by the Astros at home.

There were plenty of contributors, with Cedric Mullins, Ryan Mountcastle and Maikel Franco pacing Baltimore’s four-run first inning and three relievers following starter Matt Harvey with 4 2/3 scoreless frames against the American League’s top offense.

“We were really competitive for three games,” Hyde said. “We did a lot of things well this series.”

Three games, of course, do not make a season nor signal an immediate return to contention. But in the broader context of their rebuild, it’s worth using as a launching point to assess the play of some of the Orioles’ more important pieces at the season’s halfway mark:

CF Cedric Mullins
Stock: Soaring

Mullins seems to be elevating his game on a nightly basis, to the point where he’s regularly dominating entire series. This was a fine example: Mullins went 8-for-14 with two RBIs, two walks, three stolen bases and four runs scored over the three-game set, putting a stamp on what’s been an All-Star-worthy first half.

• Hurry! Get your ASG votes in for Mullins

Two years since he was demoted to Double-A Bowie, Mullins leads the American League in hits (99) and places among its leaders in batting average (.322), on-base percentage (.391), slugging percentage (.550) and a slew of other statistical categories. Mullins' turnaround has made him one of MLB's most valuable players, and perhaps the most positive development of the Orioles’ rebuild to date.

1B/DH Trey Mancini
Stock: Trending up

Mancini slumped during the last few weeks of June, but the Orioles are thrilled with his overall play in his first season since defeating Stage 3 colon cancer. Amazingly, Mancini returned as precisely the player he was before that: a legitimate middle-of-the-order threat and the emotional heartbeat and face of Baltimore's rebuild.

Mancini's appearance in the 2021 T-Mobile Home Run Derby will be one of the best stories of All-Star week. Then, the narrative will change, with speculation going toward whether the Orioles will shop their star slugger at the July 30 Trade Deadline.

1B/DH Ryan Mountcastle
Stock: Bullish

If you bought Mountcastle a month ago, you’d be pretty happy right now. The rookie got off to a tough start and slumped through May, but he heated up in June, hitting .327 with nine homers and a .634 slugging percentage during the month.

Mountcastle's plate discipline and defense are still works in progress, but his upside is obvious. The evidence is in his impact when he’s going right, whether it be his three-homer game on June 19 or his two-run double in the first inning on Wednesday. One of the few top offensive prospects who general manager Mike Elias inherited, Mountcastle remains a major priority. And he's trending in the right direction.

OF Anthony Santander
Stock: Bearish

Santander was the Orioles’ breakout star a year ago, compiling 11 home runs and an .890 OPS before injury struck to end the shortened season. But he’s been hampered by more ailments in 2021, this time lingering ankle issues that zapped his offensive impact in the first half.

Santander is hitting .239 with five homers and a .669 OPS through 52 games, and looks less like a trade candidate by the day, unless the Orioles want to sell low.

OF Austin Hays
Stock: Trending up

This series was a reminder of how many different things Hays can do on a baseball field when he’s healthy. He went 6-for-12 over the three games, homered twice, drove in six runs and robbed a home run Monday night.

On Wednesday, Hays came off the bench and went deep off left-hander Ryan Hartman in the eighth for a key insurance run. All told, Hays would have been the best player on the field, had Mullins not been standing next to him.

And yet, due to injuries and inconsistency, these are still the kinds of feats the Orioles are witnessing from Hays only in flashes. Perhaps a healthy second half will change that, after Hays had stints on the IL with hamstring issues. He’s hitting .249 with eight homers and a .741 OPS in 51 games.

LHPs Tanner Scott and Paul Fry
Stock: Flat

It’s been a roller-coaster ride lately for the pair of Orioles lefties, both of whom looked like long-term pieces -- or slam-dunk trade candidates, depending on your viewpoint -- a few weeks ago. Both have been dominant in spurts, with strikeout rates north of 30 percent. But inconsistencies with command (Scott: 2.93 ERA, 19-percent walk rate; Fry: 3.52 overall ERA, but seven walks in 10 June games) can make them look more like situational relievers than true back-end arms.

Wednesday, though, was the best they’ve pitched in tandem in some time, and it may have been Scott’s best outing of the year. Inheriting a two-on, one-out jam from Harvey in the fifth, Scott struck out Michael Brantley and induced a weak popout from Yuli Gurriel to escape. Scott then struck out the side in the sixth, his fastball reaching 98.8 mph, per Statcast. Fry worked 1 1/3 scoreless innings behind him, before righty Cole Sulser secured the final five outs.

“You see what Tanner could be,” Hyde said. “He punched out four of five, and they had no chance. It’s electric stuff and it’s all about strikes.”