O's game blog: Orioles look to snap five-game losing streak in Houston

The struggling Orioles' offense gets a real challenge today as they try to get a win and avoid a four-game sweep at Houston.

They face left-hander Dallas Keuchel (7-1, 1.76 ERA). He ranks second in the American League to Oakland's Sonny Gray (at 1.65) in ERA.

Maybe the Orioles are encouraged by the fact that they are one of three teams this year to score four runs against him. On May 25 at Camden Yards, the O's pinned Keuchel's only loss this year on him as he went eight innings, giving up six hits and four runs, throwing 98 pitches in a 4-3 Orioles' win.

Other notes on Keuchel:

* He has pitched eight innings or more in five of his 11 starts and has thrown back-to-back complete games.

* He pitched a complete-game, four-hit shutout Saturday to beat the Chicago White Sox in his last start.

* He has allowed just three homers all year, and two came in that start against the Orioles when Caleb Joseph and Steve Pearce went deep. He has given up one homer in his other 73 2/3 innings this year.

* In six home starts, he is 5-0 with an ERA of 1.05, has not allowed a homer in 43 innings and has a .181 batting average against.

* He leads MLB with a 4.68 ground-to-air out ratio and in opponent slugging at .242.

His mound opponent today is lefty Wei-Yin Chen (1-4, 3.21 ERA). Chen is making his 11th start, and the Orioles are 5-5 when he pitches. Chen is 24-12 with a 3.60 ERA in 52 starts all-time against teams outside of the AL East. Against AL East clubs, he is 12-16 with a 4.03 ERA in 44 starts.

Chen averages 15.6 pitches per inning. That is second among Orioles starting pitchers with at least five starts, behind only Ubaldo Jimenez's 15.5. In 2014, Chen's 16.0 pitches per inning led the club's starters and ranked 21st in the AL.

Since April 29, the Orioles bullpen ranks seventh in MLB and fifth in the AL with a 2.57 ERA. In that same time frame, Baltimore relievers have held opposing hitters to a .230 clip, ranking ninth in the majors and eighth in the league.

The Orioles are 8-8-2 in series and 9-8 in the last game of the series.

Today they look to break a five-game losing streak and also a five-game road losing streak during which they have scored just nine runs. They are 8-17 on road, losing 10 of the last 12 away from Camden Yards.