Jimenez strong, bats cold and Wright is set for his major league debut

Well, on the plus side, Ubaldo Jimenez pitched well yet again. The Orioles lost for the eighth time in 11 games last night, but Jimenez gave up just two runs over seven innings and has an ERA of 2.43 through seven starts.

Last night, he pounded the strike zone and threw 37 strikes among his first 45 pitches over the first four innings. He did not walk a batter for the first time since Sept. 19, 2013.

"I think I am feeling comfortable every time I go to the mound. I know I can execute my pitches even if I fall behind in the count," he said.

Jimenez had a poor career record against the Angels - until last night. In four career starts entering Saturday's game, he went 0-4 with an ERA of 6.12.

"You know what? Every day, I forget about the past," he said of that record. "I know I had some ugly stats against them, but also had a couple of good games like seven innings, three runs and 10 strikeouts and I lost the game. If you only see the stats, you will go crazy. It's part of the game. They beat me before, but once I get on the mound, I don't think about that."

The Orioles hitters right now have to be thinking about trying to produce more runs. In going 5-9 this month, the Orioles are batting just .217 with an OPS of .627 and scoring just 2.9 runs per game. This followed an April where they averaged a major league-best 5.6 runs per game.

The O's have scored just two runs on eight hits in this series with a team batting average of .129. They had just five hits Friday night and only three in last night's loss where Angels pitchers retired the last 16 Orioles batters.

The Orioles have scored two runs or less 11 times this year, going 0-11.

Read about Wright: Mike Wright, the Orioles' 2013 minor league Pitcher of the Year, is set to make his major league debut today when he starts against Los Angeles.

It will be an exciting day for the 25-year-old right-hander drafted in the third round in 2011 out of East Carolina. Wright talked about his feeling being in the big leagues when he got his call-up on Wednesday.

"It's exciting," he said. "It's really exciting. It is what I've dreamed of my whole life. To have this chance is amazing."

At Triple-A Norfolk this year, Wright was 3-0 with a 2.64 ERA over six starts. He pitched to an ERA of 0.95 over his last seven Norfolk starts in 2014. So in his last 13 Triple-A starts, dating to last July, he is 7-2 with a 1.62 ERA.

Click here to read an interview with Wright when he was added to the Orioles 40-man roster in November. Click here to read Wright's comments on his velocity and how it can range greatly from low to high end.

Radio day: I'm be on 105.7 FM The Fan later today, hosting a half-hour of O's talk from noon-12:30 p.m. and then hosting "Orioles Baseball Tonight" at 12:30 p.m., where O's executive vice president Dan Duquette will be my guest. Hope you can tune in and call in.