OAKLAND, Calif. - The Orioles offense came back to life last night with nine extra-base hits, including four homers, in a 7-2 win over Oakland. Tonight we'll see if the offense can continue in the second game of this four-game series.
The Orioles (57-58) can get back to the .500 mark. They are in a wild race for the second AL wild-card spot. Six teams are within 1 1/2 games of the spot which is held by Seattle and Tampa Bay jointly with 59-57 records. Minnesota is 1/2-game behind those teams with Los Angeles and Kansas City one back and the Orioles 1 1/2 out.
The Orioles are 2-2 on this road trip and have won nine of 13 and 15 of their last 24 games since July 16. They are 15-12 since the All-Star break.
It is a bit of a surprising stat, but the Orioles lead MLB in runs scored in the second half with 146 over 27 games for an average of 5.4 per game. They rank third in the majors in batting average .277 in that time, are ninth in OBP (.334), fifth in slugging (.482) and fifth in OPS (.816).
On the mound tonight, right-hander Ubaldo Jiménez (5-7, 6.31 ERA) makes his 24th appearance and 19th as a starter. The Orioles are 10-8 when he gets the start.
Jiménez has allowed just two runs and 14 hits over 12 2/3 innings his past two starts. Over his last three starts he is 1-1 with a 1.93 ERA. He missed by one out in his last outing of posting three straight quality starts.
In seven career starts versus Oakland, he is 4-1 with a 4.66 ERA and 1.552 WHIP.
O's starting pitchers have allowed two earned runs or less 10 times in the last 13 games, pitching to an ERA of 2.34 with eight quality starts.
Right-hander Paul Blackburn, 23, gets the start for Oakland tonight. He is 3-1 with a 2.60 ERA in seven starts. On Saturday against the Angels he pitched 6 2/3 scoreless on five hits. He has allowed one run or less in four of his starts. Lefty batters are hitting .200 against him, right-handers are batting .253 and he yields an average of .154 with runners in scoring position.
Oakland, which has lost five of seven, is 50-65. This is the A's worst 115-game record since they were 44-71 in 1997. A's pitchers have allowed six or more runs in seven of nine August games. Oakland starters have pitched to an ERA of 7.14 over the last 13 games and have allowed four or more runs 11 times in that span.