O's game blog: Jiménez faces Scherzer in series finale

The Orioles went 14-6 (.700) in interleague play last season and have started this year with an even better winning percentage with a 3-1 mark (.750). Baltimore's 14 interleague victories last season were the most in club history after the Orioles had 12 interleague wins each in 2014 and 2015.

Tonight, the Orioles host the Nationals in the second game of the two-game series here. A two-game series between the teams begins Wednesday at Nats Park.

While the Nationals have been a pretty good team the last five years, winning National League East titles with 98 wins in 2012, 96 in 2014 and 95 in 2016, they have not done well against the Orioles. The Birds are 18-7 versus the Nats since 2012 and have won seven of the last eight in this series after last night's 6-4 win here at Camden Yards. The Orioles are 37-24 against the Nationals since the teams first met in 2006.

The Orioles have won five in a row and seven of their past nine games to get to 21-10 for the season. The Orioles have held a lead for 42 consecutive innings, dating to the fourth inning on May 4 at Boston. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last team to hold a lead for at least 42 consecutive innings was the Los Angeles Angels June 2-7, 2008, when they held a lead for 43 consecutive innings. Prior to that, the Milwaukee Brewers held a lead for 45 straight innings June 18-23, 2007.

Best home records in MLB
.800 - Orioles and New York Yankees (12-3)
.706 - Arizona (12-5)
.667 - Houston (12-6) and Seattle (10-5)

Tonight's pitching matchup features right-handers as Ubaldo Jiménez (1-1, 6.58 ERA) pitches against Max Scherzer (4-2, 2.66 ERA).

Jiménez pitched in relief in his last game on Wednesday at Boston. He was called on to cover some innings after Kevin Gausman got ejected that night, and he pitched three scoreless against the Red Sox on one hit. In four of his five starts, he has pitched 4 1/3 or fewer innings.

In two home starts, Jiménez is 0-0 with a 9.39 ERA and has allowed three homers over 7 2/3. In nine career starts versus Washington he is 6-2 with a 2.24 ERA and .215 average against. He has faced the Nationals twice while with Baltimore, going 1-1 with a 0.75 ERA.

The 2016 National League Cy Young Award winner, Scherzer pitched one time against the Orioles in 2016, getting a 4-0 win on Aug. 25. Over eight innings in that game he gave up just two hits with no walks and 10 strikeouts. He threw 95 pitches. In nine career games against Baltimore he is 5-2 with a 3.32 ERA and 1.091 WHIP.

This season he has recorded five quality starts, and the Nationals are 4-2 in his games after going 24-10 last year. In 2017 over 40 2/3 innings, he has allowed 26 hits, including five homers with 11 walks, 52 strikeouts and a .182 average against.

Joey Rickard, Mark Trumbo and Trey Mancini each homered in a four-run first inning on Monday. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Monday marked the third time the Orioles hit at least three first-inning home runs in a game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards since the park opened in 1992. They also did so on May 10, 2012 against the Texas Rangers (Ryan Flaherty, J.J. Hardy and Nick Markakis) and on Aug. 19, 2016 with four (Adam Jones, Manny Machado, Trumbo and Chris Davis).

Mancini hit his seventh homer last night. He has recorded an RBI in six straight games to mark the longest consecutive game RBI streak by an Oriole this season. He also extended his hitting streak to five games, going 10-for-16 (.625). with two home runs and eight RBIs. The homer Monday was his 10th career home run in his 26th career game. According to ESPN Stats and Info, only George Scott and Gary Sánchez (11 each) had more home runs in their first 26 career games.