O's game blog: The series opener with Tampa Bay

Winners of back-to-back series, collectively going 4-2 versus the Rockies and White Sox, the Orioles' homestand continues tonight as they host the Rays to start a three-game series.

After beating the White Sox 13-3 and 9-0 in the first two games of the series, the O’s were held to seven hits in Wednesday’s 8-1 loss as they failed to complete their sixth sweep of the season.

The Orioles (81-60) had a three-game win streak snapped but have won four of six and seven of 12 games. They are 3-1 in September, 23-22 since the All-Star break and 28-29 since July 1.

With the New York Yankees' 3-0 win today over the Cubs, the clubs have identical records atop the division. The O's need to win to stay a 1/2-game ahead.

Gunnar Henderson homered Wednesday night and set an O’s record with his 35^th homer – the most ever by a Baltimore shortstop. He had shared the record with Cal Ripken Jr. (1991) and Miguel Tejada (2004).

Wednesday’s game featured leadoff homers by each club as Chicago second baseman Nicky Lopez led off the contest with a home run. It’s the second game this year with a pair of leadoff homers after that happened Aug. 31 between the Dodgers and Diamondbacks with Shohei Ohtani and Corbin Carroll connecting.

Henderson went 3-for-4 to record his team-leading 15^th three-hit game. In the Chicago series, he was 5-for-11 with a double, two homers, four RBIs and five runs scored.

Tampa Bay (69-71) has reached the playoffs five straight years, but is now likely to miss out and could have its first losing year since going 80-82 in 2017.

The Rays won 99 games last year and 100 in 2021.

They just split four games with the Twins. They enter this series having lost five of eight and nine of their past 14 games. They are 21-23 since the All-Star break. Tampa Bay is 32-33 in road games and 17-23 in American League East games.

The Rays have lost five straight and nine of their past 10 series openers. The Rays own the major leagues' best record in games decided by one or two runs at 47-27 (.635). Their one-run record (26-17, .605) is third-best in the majors. 

Even in going 2-2-1 their past five AL East series, the Orioles are 28-15 (.651) this year in games versus AL East teams. They are 8-2-3 in 13 series. They have averaged 5.51 runs per game against the AL East with an .807 OPS and 71 homers. Their pitchers have a 3.28 ERA in division games, allowing a .226 average and .659 OPS versus the East.

The Orioles are 8-2 on the season against the Rays. They have won the season series for the second year in a row for the first time since doing so three straight years from 2014-2016.

The Orioles have outscored the Rays 52-25 and are 2-1 at home versus them and 6-1 on the road. They have an OPS of .869 against Tampa Bay pitching in the season series, while their pitchers have an ERA of 2.22, allowing a .569 OPS. The O's 2.50 runs per game allowed against the Rays this year is on pace to be the lowest scoring average against the Orioles by a division opponent since 1981 (Blue Jays – 2.14).

If the Orioles win just one game this weekend, they would finish 9-4 on the year against the Rays. That .692 win percentage would be the best-ever versus the Rays:

.800 - 2024 (8-2)
.684 - 2006, 2016 (13-6)
.667 - 2005 (12-6)
.632 - 2014 (12-7)

Even after taking a 103.1 mph liner off his right forearm and leaving early last Saturday at Colorado, right-hander Dean Kremer (6-9, 4.51 ERA) will make his start tonight as planned. He allowed four runs in 3 1/3 innings to the Rockies, but had an ERA of 2.50 his previous three games. In six career games, he is 1-1 with a 2.79 ERA versus the Rays.

Righty Shane Baz (2-2, 3.49 ERA) starts for the visitors. The Rays are 5-4 in his outings this year. Over his last three games, he is 2-1 with a 2.29 ERA.  

On Wednesday, the Orioles surpassed the 2 million attendance mark for the first time since 2017 when they drew 2,028,424 fans. According to Baseball Reference, the Orioles have drawn 366,511 more fans than they had at this point last year, the single-largest increase in the majors. Baltimore is averaging 27,828 fans per game so far this year, and their +5,090 difference per game compared to last year is also first in majors.