O's game blog: Looking to even the series with Toronto

The Orioles have gone 10 straight American League East series without losing one since April – going 8-0-2 - but they have a challenge to win their current series with the Toronto Blue Jays.

After Toronto’s 6-3 win Monday in 10 innings, the Orioles now need two straight wins to take another division series. The Orioles are now 24-15 for the year in AL East games and are 22-11 during the unbeaten 10-series run within the division.

Brandon Belt’s two-run homer in the 10th off Mike Baumann - who was optioned to Triple-A today - gave Toronto a 5-3 lead. That lead grew to three runs when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. doubled and scored on a wild pitch.

That double was Guerrero’s first extra-base hit this year off Baltimore pitching. After getting three hits last night he is now batting .200 (8-for-40) with a .529 OPS in 11 games this season versus Baltimore, with one double and two RBIs.

Toronto (70-56) is in third place and moved to within 7 1/2 games of the division-leading Orioles. The Blue Jays are now 38-29 on the road and 18-7 in their past 25 road games. They are 12-23 versus AL East teams and 8-7 in extra innings.

Toronto has won three straight games, and 16 of its last 27. The Blue Jays are 25-16 across their last 41. The .610 win percentage over that span (since July 4) is third-best in the AL and fifth 5th in the major leagues. The Jays enter today one game back of Seattle for the third AL wild card spot.

The Orioles had won their past five extra-inning games, including three on the West Coast road trip, two of those coming at Seattle. They are now 8-3 versus Toronto, outscoring the Blue Jays 63-37 in the season series.

Baltimore falls to 27-14 in series openers, 46-13 when scoring first and to 9-6 in extra innings.

Right-hander Dean Kremer (11-5, 4.50 ERA) gets the start tonight, his 26^th. The Orioles are 18-7 in his 2023 outings.

Kremer gave up three runs over six innings his last start, taking a loss in San Diego. But he has allowed two earned runs or fewer in five of his past eight games. In that span he is 3-1 with a 3.45 ERA, allowing a .193 batting average and .604 OPS.

In eight starts this season against division opponents, Kremer is 4-0 with a 4.29 ERA. In nine career games versus Toronto he has a 4.93 ERA.

With 11 wins, Kremer is tied for fourth in the AL, behind Tampa Bay's Zach Eflin with 13. The Jays' Chris Bassitt and the Orioles' Kyle Gibson have 12 each.

Right-hander Kevin Gausman (9-7, 3.24 ERA) starts for Toronto and faces his former team. In 144 1/3 innings for the year he has allowed 131 hits and 1.164 WHIP, recording a 2.3 walk rate and 11.7 strikeout rate.

Among qualified pitchers, Gausman leads the AL with 11.66 strikeouts per nine innings. He ranks eighth in ERA, 11^th in innings and 12^th in WHIP.

He gave up five runs in 5 1/3 innings in his last start versus Philadelphia and has an ERA of 4.08 and OPS against of .802 his last five games. One of those games was against the Orioles at Rogers Centre, where he allowed eight hits and three runs in 4 1/3 innings on Aug. 3. That was his second shortest start of this season.

Toronto hitters rank first in the AL with a .264 road batting average and rank second in road on-base percentage (.331). They are second in road slugging (.431) and in road OPS (.762).