O's game blog: The final 2019 home game has arrived

The Orioles (50-105) will host Seattle today to wrap up this series, homestand and their 2019 home schedule. They are 24-56 this season at Camden Yards.

The homestand started with the Orioles losing three straight against Toronto. Now they have split two games with Seattle. In the five games, the O's bullpen has pitched 27 1/3 innings, allowing 28 hits and 25 runs (22 earned). The O's have been outscored 24-9 in the seventh inning on these past five games.

Seattle (66-89) has won six of seven and eight of 11 games. The Mariners are 3-2 versus the Orioles.

The Orioles have now homered in 15 straight games, hitting 22 total home runs. According to STATS, LLC., the 15 straight with a homer is the second-longest active streak in the majors, trailing only Houston's 18-game stretch. The longest such streak in O's history is 20 games, done by the 1998 Orioles (July 17-Aug. 9, 1998).

Center fielder Austin Hays tied Saturday's game at 6-6 with a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning. It marked his second home run of the season and second in the last three games. Hays extended his hitting streak to five games and has gone 7-for-20 (.350) with six RBIs in that span. He's batting .308 (12-for-39) in 14 games since being recalled from Triple-A Norfolk on Sept. 7.

Richie Martin extended the Baltimore lead to 3-0 with a two-run double in the second inning. He's batting .333 (7-for-21) in 13 games this month. Last night marked his fifth multi-RBI game of the season.

Infielder Hanser Alberto gave the Orioles the lead in the fifth inning with an RBI single. The hit came off lefty Justus Sheffield and was his league-leading 86th hit against left-handed pitching. He leads the majors with a .402 (86-for-214) average against lefties this season.

O's left-hander John Means (10-11, 3.65 ERA) gets the start for the Orioles in today's series finale. Means has thrown 143 innings, allowing 126 hits with 35 walks and 112 strikeouts. His WHIP is 1.126 for the year and he has given up 7.9 hits per nine with 1.3 home runs, 2.2 walks and 7.0 strikeouts.

In his last start, which came at Detroit, Means allowed five runs and six hits over 5 2/3 innings. In his previous five starts, Means had worked to an ERA of 2.53 with a .183 opponent average. In 32 innings, he walked just three and fanned 25.

In 17 games (15 starts) at home, Means is 7-5 with a 2.86 ERA and 0.965 WHIP. The O's are 8-7 in his 15 starts at Camden Yards in 2019.

Lefty Marco Gonzales (16-11, 4.04 ERA) will make his 33rd start for the Mariners. For the season, he's allowed 202 hits in 189 innings with a WHIP of 1.339. Gonzales allows 9.6 hits per nine innings with 1.0 home runs, 2.4 walks and 6.6 strikeouts.

In his last start at Pittsburgh, he threw seven scoreless innings on six hits on 93 pitches. The Mariners are 17-15 in his games this year.

Gonzales has pitched seven innings three times in his last five starts, going 3-1 with a 3.38 ERA in that span. Over 32 innings, he has walked 11 and struck out 18 with an average against of .231 in that time.

Lefty batters hit .313 with an OPS of .831 against him and right-handers hit .256/.717. In 17 road starts this season, he is 7-7 with a 4.10 ERA and 1.419 WHIP.