O's game blog: Dylan Bundy faces Blake Snell in series opener

The Orioles have arrived in St. Petersburg, Fla. for their third stop on a three-city road trip. Tonight they begin a three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays to wrap up a trip where they went 0-3 at Kansas City and 1-2 at Seattle.

The Orioles (41-99) have lost five of six and 13 of their last 17 games. They are 17-55 away from Oriole Park and have lost nine of the last 10 on the road.

Tampa Bay (75-64) is in third place in the American League East and holds the seventh-best record in the AL. The Rays have won 13 of their last 16 games and are 21-11 since Aug. 1 and 26-17 in the second half. Rays pitchers have allowed three runs or less in 17 of their last 24 games.

Tampa Bay could add to that tonight. Against an Orioles team that has scored just 15 runs on this trip, the Rays send left-hander Blake Snell (17-5, 2.02 ERA) to the mound. Snell has had a tremendous season and seems to be pitching his best as the year goes on. He has allowed one earned run or less in six straight starts, going 5-0 with an ERA of 1.10.

Snell ranks second in the AL and third in the majors in ERA. He is tied for second in the AL and the majors in wins and ranks seventh in the major leagues in WHIP at 1.01.

Snell has allowed one earned run or less in 19 of his 26 starts, throwing seven scoreless starts. He has a streak going where he has allowed one or fewer earned runs in 14 straight home games. That is the longest streak since ERA became a stat in both leagues in 1913.

Snell allows a batting average of only .142 when facing lefty batters and .199 against right-handed hitters. When pitching with runners in scoring position, that number is .092. Snell was the AL Pitcher of the Month for August, when he went 4-0 with a 1.04 ERA and .131 average against in five starts.

Snell, however, has allowed a season-high five runs in a start two times this year and once was his only 2018 versus the Orioles. On May 13, he allowed six hits and five runs in 3 1/3 innings in a game the Orioles won 17-1. In four career starts against them, he is 1-2 with a 4.98 ERA.

He is opposed tonight by right-hander Dylan Bundy (7-13, 5.36 ERA). Bundy felt he made some progress to break out of his recent struggles on Saturday in Kansas City, when he went 5 1/3 innings, allowing eight hits and three runs.

But over his past five starts, he has an ERA of 10.22, has allowed eight homers and has pitched 5 1/3 innings or less each time. Over his past 10 starts, Bundy is 1-6 with an ERA of 8.46 and he's allowed 3.1 homers/nine innings in this span. Lefty batters are hitting .318 against Bundy and right-handed batters are hitting .228.