O’s Game Blog: The series opener in Oakland

As the Orioles face the Athletics tonight in Oakland to begin a three-game series, they can only hope that this trip there goes as well as the last one to Oakland.

They won there last August by scores of 9-4, 7-2 and 12-1, and beat the A’s in the series 28-7. Their batters had 42 hits and six home runs in the series, posting a .350 batting average with an OPS of 1.002. Their pitchers allowed just those seven runs, posting a 2.25 ERA and a .632 OPS against them.

The Orioles have won three straight games in Oakland by five or more runs, and their longest streak of such games against an opponent is four. They have won four straight games by five or more runs over the White Sox (1969), the Royals (2002-2003) and the Red Sox (2004).

The Orioles beat Oakland 6-1 last year. But the Athletics have already surpassed that win total, winning 2-1 in a series in Baltimore on April 27-29. Oakland won the series opener 3-2 in 10 innings before the O’s won 7-0 and Oakland won 7-6 in the series finale.

The Orioles lost 7-3 in Seattle yesterday, but took two of three games in this series. The Orioles are 19-6-3 in series this season and 8-3-2 in 13 road series. They have a 26-15 road record and are 18-10 in series openers.

The Orioles featured three good starting pitchers in Seattle. Right-handers Grayson Rodriguez, Dean Kremer and Corbin Burnes combined to allow two runs and eight hits in 17 1/3 innings. Burnes has had 12 good starts in his last 13 games with a 2.16 ERA in that stretch.

This year, the Orioles lead the American League and rank second in the Major League in rotation ERA:

3.05 – Philadelphia
3.28 – Oriole
3.46 – Seattle
3.52 – Kansas City

The O’s starting pitchers have allowed two or fewer earned runs seven times in their last eight games and posted an ERA of 2.35 during that time.

However, the Baltimore bullpen allowed five runs in the seventh inning last night and has given up six runs in six innings over the last two games. Over the last five games, the bullpen ERA is 7.00.

The Orioles (55-32), who are 6-2 in their last eight games, enter this weekend with a two-game lead at the top of the AL East.

Since June 15, the Orioles have a 5 1/2 game lead over New York. The O’s are 10-8 during that span, while the Yankees are 4-13 with a run differential of minus-38 and a team ERA of 6.69.

Gunnar Henderson hit 3 for 5 with a double and a home run on Thursday after hitting 1 for 12 over the past three days. In his past 14 games, Henderson has hit 21 for 57 and posted a batting average of .368/.438/.719/1.157 with five doubles, five home runs, 11 RBIs and seven multi-hit games.

The O’s All-Star starters Adley Rutschman and Henderson are among the AL leaders in multi-hit games. Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr. leads the league with 35 such games. Henderson and Rutschman are tied for fifth with 28 multi-hit games each. With a batting average of .289, Henderson ranks 12th in the AL in batting average and Rutschman ranks 13th with .288.

Oakland (33-56) has the second-worst record in the AL, with only Chicago being better, but the A’s just won three games against the Los Angeles Angels and have won the last two days 5-0. Before this sweep, Oakland had lost seven of eight games and had a 4-17 record in its last 21 games.

The Athletics are 21-23 at home and 6-10 against the AL East. Oakland ranks 14th in the AL with 3.63 runs scored per game, but fourth with 102 home runs. Their team ERA of 4.31 is 12th in the league, and their rotation ERA of 4.87 is last in the AL and 26th in the major leagues.

Right-hander Albert Suárez (4-2, 2.43 ERA) will make his 11th start for the Orioles tonight. He is coming off an outing in which he pitched six scoreless, three-hit innings against Texas. In his previous two games, he had allowed eight runs in 8 2/3. Suárez has made five scoreless starts this season.

Left-hander Hogan Harris (1-2, 3.18 ERA) starts for the home team. The Athletics are 2-4 in his starts, but he has a 3.20 ERA in five starts in June. Opponents have an OPS of .876 against him the first time, .688 the second time and .764 the third time.