O's game blog: Road trip begins in Texas

After losing six of seven games during the season's first homestand, the Orioles are back on the road tonight. They begin a two-city, five-game road stint at Texas versus the Rangers. It's their first trip to Arlington, Texas, since June 4-6, 2019.

The Orioles (5-8) lost a doubleheader to Seattle on Thursday and they are tied for fourth in the American League East and are four games back of first-place Boston. The Orioles, who scored just three runs over the two seven-inning games yesterday, are 2-8 since beginning the season 3-0 at Fenway Park.

Texas (6-7) is in fourth in the AL West, two games out of first place. The Rangers were 3-7 with a four-game losing streak, but then won the last three games of their four-game series with Tampa Bay at Tropicana Field, which ended yesterday. They were 0-8 in their last eight road series before winning that one.

The Rangers have won six games in a row and nine of 11 over the Orioles dating to 2018.

O's right-hander Jorge López (0-2, 11.42 ERA) will be making his third start. He gave up four runs in 4 2/3 innings at New York and allowed seven runs over four innings against Boston. The O's are 0-2 in those starts. Lopez is 2-4 with a 7.28 ERA and 1.489 WHIP in 11 games and eight starts dating to 2020 for the Orioles.

He has not allowed a run and opposing batters are 2-for-14 (.143) against him in the first two innings of those games to begin this year. But from innings three through five, he has allowed six runs and opponents are 9-for-22 (.409) against him with three home runs.

For his career, opponents bat .251 with a .718 OPS against López the first time through the batting order. But the second time through, that goes up to .321/.955 and to .349/1.062 the third time.

Right-hander Mike Foltynewicz (0-2, 4.09 ERA) will get his third start for Texas. For the season, he has allowed six hits and five runs over 11 innings with six walks and 10 strikeouts. He has a 1.091 WHIP, allowing 4.9 walks per nine with 8.2 strikeouts.

The 29-year-old, a 2018 National League All-Star, was drafted in round one in 2010 by Houston, No. 19 overall. Texas signed him as a free agent to a one-year deal on Feb. 10, 2021.

After giving up four runs over four innings to Toronto in his 2021 season debut, he pitched much better his last time out. On Sunday, in a 2-0 loss to San Diego, he allowed two hits and one run over seven innings on 91 pitches.

This season, he has thrown his four-seam fastball 58 percent of the time at an average velocity of 94 mph. He adds his slider 31 percent, his changeup 6 percent and his curveball on 5 percent of his pitches.

Several Orioles are slumping and Birdland has certainly noticed:

* Pedro Severino is 4-for-24 with nine strikeouts in his last eight games.

* Trey Mancini is 1-for-12 over his last four games and 4-for-29 in his past eight. He does have three homers and seven RBIs over his last six games.

* Freddy Galvis is 4-for-27 with 11 strikeouts in his past nine games.

* Rio Ruiz is 1-for-15 over his last six games.

* Anthony Santander is 3-for-21 in his last seven games.