O's game blog: A look at the O's impressive record against top pitchers

First, the bad news. The Orioles tonight face Cleveland Indians right-hander Corey Kluber (13-6, 2.46 ERA). Kluber has given up just one earned run in 31 1/3 innings over his past four starts and he ranks third in the American League in ERA. Now the good news. The Orioles have played 13 games this year against a starter in the current top 10 of the AL in ERA and they are 9-4 in those games. Here are the league ERA leaders and how the Orioles have fared against them this year: 1.95 - Felix Hernandez, Mariners (Orioles are 1-0) 2.01 - Chris Sale, White Sox (Orioles are 1-0) 2.46 - Corey Kluber, Indians (Orioles are 0-1) 2.51 - Masahiro Tanaka, Yankees (Orioles are 2-0) 2.51 - Jon Lester, Athletics (Orioles are 1-1) 2.54 - Garret Richards, Angels (Orioles are 1-0) 2.72 - Hisashi Iwakuma, Mariners (Orioles are 2-0) 2.78 - Scott Kazmir, Athletics (Orioles are 0-1) 2.86 - Sonny Gray, Athletics (Orioles are 1-1) 2.98 - Max Scherzer, Tigers (Orioles are 0-0) The Orioles faced Lester when he was with Boston. And it's not like they put up big numbers on these pitchers either. But the bottom line is they found a way to beat them even if the pitcher did not take the loss on his record. That is what they need to try and do tonight in Cleveland. Kluber is 3-0 with an ERA of 0.29 in his last four starts. In 31 1/3 innings, he has given up just 15 hits and one run with three walks and 35 strikeouts. Over his past nine starts, he has given up one earned run or less seven times, going 7-1 with a 1.19 ERA. Kluber ranks fourth in the league with 187 strikeouts and fourth in innings at 171 2/3. He averages 9.8 strikeouts per nine innings. Kluber has seven games of 10 or more strikeouts, which ranks second in the league to David Price's 10. Wei-Yin Chen (12-4, 3.90 ERA) gets the start for the Orioles. In four starts since the All-Star break, he is 3-1 with a 2.84 ERA. Chen has allowed five or more runs just three times in 2014, but once was against Cleveland. On May 22, he went 6 2/3 innings, allowing eight hits and five runs. Meanwhile, on his ESPN.com blog today, Keith Law ranked the best tools among big league pitchers. He rated the Orioles' Andrew Miller as having the fourth-best slider in baseball behind the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw, the Rangers' Yu Darvish and the Yankees' Dellin Betances. I can think of at least one slider Betances might like to have back. By the way, Law ranked Kluber as having the second-best cut fastball behind the Dodgers' Kenley Jansen and the second-best curveball behind Oakland's Sonny Gray. The Orioles are a season-high 19 games over .500 at 69-50, their most games over that mark since they ended 2012 at 93-69. The Orioles have gone just 9-14 (.391) against the AL Central this season. In their other 96 games, the O's have gone 60-36 (.625), playing at a 101-win full-season pace. The Orioles are a major league-best 27-11 since June 30. On June 6, the Orioles were 6 1/2 games out of first place. Today, they lead the AL East by 7 1/2 games. Nice 14-game swing.