O's game blog: Shooting for a win in the series finale

The Orioles have scored 13 runs in the first two games of their series with the Tampa Bay Rays. But they've given up eight homers and 22 runs and lost both games. They need a win today to avoid being swept three straight in the final game of a homestand.

They are 1-4 on this homestand and 6-17 at home for the season. The Rays will win this series, leaving the Orioles 0-6-1 in seven home series this season.

Trey Mancini went 4-for-5 last night with a pair of solo homers and a three-run double. His five RBIs tied his career high, last done on Aug. 27, 2018 versus Toronto. This was his first multi-homer game of this year and first since July 21, 2019. It is Mancini's eighth career multi-homer game.

Mancini's 38 RBIs lead the majors and he has 21 RBIs in 16 games this month, and that also leads the big leagues. It is the most RBIs in the month of May by an Oriole since Manny Machado collected 23 in 2018. The most RBIs in a single season in May in O's history is 31 by Jim Gentile in 1961, with the second-most being 27, done three times (Eddie Murray - 1987, B.J. Surhoff - 1997, Nelson Cruz - 2014).

Mancini is batting a team-best .396 (21-for-53) with runners in scoring position, while also batting .500 (8-for-16) with RISP and two outs. His 21 hits with RISP are the most in the majors, and his eight hits with RISP and two outs are tied for the third-most in the majors

His home run in the fifth inning traveled 431 feet, his second-farthest home run of the season, trailing a 440-foot homer on May 10 against Boston.

Right-hander Dean Kremer (0-3, 5.81 ERA) this afternoon will make his eighth start of the 2021 season, the second of his career versus Tampa Bay and the 12th start of his major league career.

Kremer is coming off a solid outing on Friday against the New York Yankees. He did not get a decision, but over five innings gave up five hits and two runs with no walks and four strikeouts. The Yankees went 5-for-20 against him.

In his one career game against Tampa Bay, on Sept. 17, 2020, he allowed three hits and one run over five innings in his third career start. He walked three and fanned six in that outing.

In four starts versus the American League East this season, he is 0-3 with a 7.27 ERA with five walks and 16 strikeouts in 17 1/3 innings. In eight career starts within the division, Kremer is 1-4 with a 6.00 ERA to go with 17 walks and 38 strikeouts in 36 innings.

His mound opponent today is one-time Oriole Rich Hill (2-1, 4.26 ERA) who will be making his ninth start of the year. In 38 innings for the season, Hill has allowed 28 hits and five homers. He has walked 13 and fanned 41 with a 1.079 WHIP to go with a 3.1 walk rate and 9.7 strikeout rate.

In 14 games for the 2009 Orioles, Hill was 3-3 with a 7.80 ERA.

But since his age 35 season in 2015, he is 45-23 with a 3.02 ERA in 103 games. In that span he has a WHIP of 1.064 and has walked 2.9 per nine innings with 10.4 strikeouts.

Hill, today starting for the first time since May 13, has a scoreless streak of 17 2/3 innings, tied for second current longest in the majors. He is 1-0 with an ERA of 0.00 over his last three starts. In that span he has allowed six hits in 15 2/3 innings with six walks, 17 strikeouts and a .118 batting average against.

In 13 career games (three starts) against Baltimore, Hill is 2-0 with a 1.27 ERA over 21 1/3 innings with 0.844 WHIP.

The Orioles (17-25) have lost six of seven and nine of their last 11 games. They have lost eight of their last nine games versus the Rays and six of the last seven between the teams at Oriole Park.

The last three games the Orioles have scored 23 runs on 31 hits with seven doubles, a triple and four homers. They are batting .382 (13-for-34) with RISP in those games. Over their past five games they are batting .370 (17-for-46) with RISP.