O's game blog: O's have scored three runs in the three losses on road trip

We didn't expect to say this a lot this season, but the Orioles need to get their offense going tonight when they play the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg.

The Orioles are 1-3 on this road trip. They scored eight runs in the win on Saturday at Kansas City. But in the three losses, they have been held to three runs and 14 hits. They could not get much going against Chris Young, Yordano Ventura and Chris Archer.

The Orioles are 4-7 since their best start in team history at 7-0. They have scored 15 total runs in their seven losses, scoring three or fewer in six of the seven defeats.

But overall, their offense is still among the American League leaders in several categories for the season. They rank fourth in runs, second in batting average, first in OPS and tied for first in home runs.

On the mound tonight, right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez (1-1, 3.71 ERA) faces right-hander Jake Odorizzi (0-1, 3.97 ERA).

In his last start on Wednsday against Toronto, Jimenez allowed two runs over five innings. He had some good stuff at times in that game, but commanding and controlling it was a real challenge. Over the five frames, he allowed five hits and two runs with four walks and six strikeouts. He threw 110 pitches, 65 for strikes.

The Blue Jays' leadoff runner got on base in every inning Jimenez pitched, but he held Toronto to 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

He takes the mound this evening one win shy of tying right-hander Miguel Batista (102 career victories) for ninth place on the all-time wins list among Dominican Republic-born pitchers. He became the 11th Dominican Republic-born pitcher to post 250 career starts and the 15th to log at least 1,500 career innings.

In the small sample size of three 2016 starts, left-handed batters hit .348 off him and right-handed batters hit .256. He has allowed a .143 average when pitching with RISP.

Odorizzi allowed five runs over four innings in his last start versus Boston. Before that he pitched seven scoreless against the White Sox and before that he went six innings and gave up nine hits and four runs to the Orioles at Camden Yards on April 10.

He has an ERA of 2.56 at home since the start of the 2014 season. In his career versus the Orioles, Odorizzi is 2-3 with an ERA of 4.94.

The Orioles have lost two in a row to fall to 11-7. They lead the AL East by 1 1/2 games over Boston. Tampa Bay lost seven of 10 games to start the year but is 6-3 since that time.

The Orioles will need to win the next two games to avoid losing their first series this year to a division opponent after a 3-0 series start. They are 6-3 within the AL East.