O's game blog: Orioles go for series win in Seattle

The Orioles beat the Mariners 5-3 last night to record their first win in five games on this road trip. They also ended an eight-game road losing streak.

The Orioles (41-98) scored five runs with 15 hits last night after batting just .205 as a team and scoring eight runs in the first four games of the road trip.

Trey Mancini had three hits Tuesday night and he's batting .301/.328/.530 since the All-Star break. That was his ninth game with three or more hits on the season, and 19th of his career. Mancini is batting .400 (16-for-40) with 10 extra-base hits over his past 10 games. He has five doubles, a triple, four homers and 11 RBIs in that span.

First baseman Chris Davis is 4-for-8 over his past two games. In his last 11, he is batting .326 (14-for-43) with a homer and eight RBIs. Davis is batting .299 (20-for-67) with four extra-base hits and 10 RBIs over his last 18 games.

Jonathan Villar, who hit solo homers on Sunday and Monday, is batting .333 (11-for-33) over his past eight games with two homers and four RBIs. He is 9-for-10 stealing bases with the Orioles and has five steals his last nine games.

Right-hander Alex Cobb has pitched six or more innings and allowed two runs or fewer in six of his last seven starts. Cobb got the win last night, allowing one run over six innings on 98 pitches. He is 3-1 with a 2.51 ERA since the beginning of August. Cobb recorded his 15th quality start of the year, tied for his second most in any season, behind 17 in 2014. Cobb joins Reynaldo López of the Chicago White Sox as the only other player this season to record 15+ quality starts and be credited with five wins or fewer.

On the mound tonight, right-hander Andrew Cashner (4-13, 4.86 ERA) will make his 27th start. Over his last three, Cashner is 0-3 with a 5.89 ERA. In 13 road starts he is 2-7 with a 5.27 ERA and .310 batting average against.

Cashner has recorded three quality starts his past five games, and nine over his last 15 starts. He faced the Mariners on June 25 in Baltimore and gave up three runs and four hits over six innings.

The Orioles are 17-54 in road games and tonight can win a road series for just the fourth time this season. They are 3-17-2 in 2018 road series. Their last road series win was June 22-24 at Atlanta. They are 0-8-1 since that series.

Seattle (77-62) is 5-1 against the Orioles. The Mariners begin play tonight trailing Houston by nine games in the American League West. They trail Oakland by 5 1/2 games for the second AL wild card berth. The Mariners used 20 players in Tuesday's game. That marks the first time the Mariners used 20 in a nine-inning game since Sept. 6, 2016 versus Texas.

Seattle's starter tonight is right-hander Mike Leake (8-9, 4.25 ERA). Leake, making his 28th start, threw eight scoreless against Oakland on Aug. 15. But in his two starts since, he has allowed 18 hits and 11 runs over 10 1/3 innings. In 13 home starts he is 3-5 with a 4.29 ERA.

Leake is one of four pitchers to make at least 30 starts every year from 2012 through 2017. The others on that list are Max Scherzer, Jon Lester and Ian Kennedy. The No. 8 overall pick in round one of the draft in 2009, Leake is 0-0 with a 7.36 ERA in two career starts against Baltimore. He did pitch well on June 28 at Oriole Park, allowing two runs over seven innings.