O's game blog: O's face Max Scherzer in series finale

With three straight wins this week against the Washington Nationals, the Orioles might need an upset to make it four in a row tonight at Nationals Park.

That is because struggling right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez (5-10, 6.94 ERA) will pitch against right-hander Max Scherzer (13-7, 3.05 ERA), the major league leader in strikeouts (217) and WHIP (0.960).

Jimenez has not made a start since he allowed one run and five hits over five innings on July 28 at Minnesota. His last three appearances came in relief and he gave up five runs over eight innings. In his 18 starts this year, Jimenez is 5-9 with an ERA of 6.72 and .315 batting average against. The Orioles are 8-10 in those games.

But Jimenez has strong career numbers versus Washington, going 6-1 with a 2.32 ERA over eight starts. In four starts at Nats Park, he is 4-0 with an ERA of 0.92.

Scherzer, who ranks 10th in the National League in ERA, has not pitched as well lately. He has allowed eight runs over 10 1/3 innings in his last two starts. In four starts this month, he is 2-1 with a 4.26 ERA. This was after he posted ERAs of 1.96 in June and 1.32 in July.

A four-time All-Star, Scherzer is one of just two pitchers in major league history to throw a no-hitter and record a 20-strikeout game (Randy Johnson is the other). Scherzer struck out 20 on May 11 against Detroit. He joined Johnson (May 8, 2001), Kerry Wood (May 6, 1998) and Roger Clemens (Sept. 18, 1996 and April 29, 1986) as the only pitchers to strike out 20 batters in a nine-inning game.

Scherzer has recorded 10 or more strikeouts 10 times this year, averaging a career-best 11.2 strikeouts per nine innings. Scherzer leads the NL with 16 starts of seven innings or more and the Nats are 16-10 in his 26 outings. In four career starts versus Baltimore, he is 4-2 with a 3.81 ERA.

At 73-53 (.584), the Nationals boast the second-best record in the NL, trailing only the Chicago Cubs (81-45, .643). Washington ranks second in the major leagues with a plus-135 run differential, behind only the Cubs (plus-217). But the Nats have lost four straight games for the first time since their seven-game losing streak from June 18-25.

The Orioles have scored 22 runs on 30 hits with eight doubles and five homers over the last three games against Washington. They are 11-for-27 (.407) in the three games with runners in scoring position.

The Orioles are 70-56 overall, 28-34 in road games, 11-11 in August, 19-20 since the All-Star break and 11-5 this season against NL teams.

Third baseman Manny Machado went 4-for-6 with a home run Wednesday. He improved his lifetime batting average against the Nationals to .391 (27-for-69). According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Machado owns the fifth-highest average by any player with at least 60 at-bats against the Expos/Nationals franchise, behind Carl Crawford (.457), Bernie Williams (.435), Randall Simon (.421) and Sean Casey (.398).

On the farm: The Rochester Red Wings used four home runs to roll to a 6-2 win over the Triple-A Norfolk Tides this afternoon at Harbor Park.

Rochester's Byron Buxton hit the first pitch of the game from Joe Gunkel (8-10) into left field for his ninth home run. Gunkel, who was pitching on six days' rest after being scratched from his start on Tuesday, gave up six runs on eight hits over seven innings.

Mike Yastrzemski had two hits and an RBI to pace the Tides offense, while Corban Joseph singled twice. Trey Mancini added an RBI single for Norfolk, which dropped its second straight series following an 11-series stretch in which they either won or split each series they played.

Double-A Bowie third baseman Drew Dosch went 2-for-3 with a walk, double, and one run scored. He is batting .339/.406/.484 (21-for-62) over his last 17 games. Baysox catcher Chance Sisco now ranks first in on-base percentage (.401) and fourth in batting average (.311) among qualifying Eastern League hitters after going 2-for-4 with an RBI yesterday.