O's game blog: The final homestand begins

The final homestand of the 2024 regular season has arrived. The Orioles host the Giants for three games and then the Tigers for three to wrap up the home schedule.

The Orioles (84-66), with 12 games and four series remaining, begin play tonight three games behind the Yankees (87-63) for the American League East lead. This week the Yankees are on the West Coast with three games at Seattle beginning tonight and then three at Oakland.

This is before the O’s and Yankees play a three-game series in the Bronx beginning a week from tonight. With the Royals loss to the Tigers last night, the Orioles are 2 1/2 games ahead of Kansas City for the top AL Wild Card spot.

While the Orioles scored just six runs in the Tigers series and have scored only 21 runs the past 10 games (going 3-7), their starting pitchers have quietly been on a good roll:

* 1.42 ERA with five quality starts the last five games
* 2.33 ERA with six quality starts the past nine games
* 2.55 ERA with eight quality starts in 13 games this month

The Orioles are among the lowest starting pitcher ERAs in the major leagues this month:

1.98 – Reds
2.03 – Mets
2.33 – Blue Jays
2.38 – Braves
2.55 - Orioles

Right-hander Albert Suárez (8-5, 3.39) has been a big part of that and is pitching quite well lately. He takes the ball tonight.

Suárez gave up one run and four hits over six innings his last start at Boston. Over his past seven starts, he has allowed two runs or less six times, going 3-1 with a 2.43 ERA. In that span, he yields a .240 batting average and .672 OPS.

In facing the Giants tonight, Suárez is facing the only other major league team he has pitched for. Over the 2016-2017 seasons, he was 3-8 with a 4.51 ERA in 40 games (12 starts) for San Francisco.

The Orioles are 12-9 in his 21 starts this year and he is 7-5 with a 3.43 ERA in those games.

His mound opponent tonight for the Giants is two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell (3-3, 3.52 ERA). The lefty has made 18 starts. A free agent last winter, he signed very late on March 19, getting a two-year deal for $62 million.

He got off to a slow start and on June 2 was 0-3 with a 9.51 ERA. He then missed five weeks with a left groin strain, but has looked like his old self since his return July 9.

In 12 starts since that date, Snell is 3-0 with a 1.45 ERA and his team is 10-2 those games. That is the best ERA in the majors over that span among the 97 pitchers with at least 10 starts. Snell is one of seven pitchers in major league history to win Cy Young Awards in both leagues, winning with Tampa Bay in 2017 and San Diego last year when he was 14-9 with a 2.25 ERA.

In 10 second-half starts, Snell is 3-0 with a 1.76 ERA and 0.923 WHIP. On Aug. 2, Snell pitched a no-hitter with 11 strikeouts versus Cincinnati and threw 114 pitches.

In eight career starts versus the Orioles, he is 3-2 with a 4.35 ERA and 1.016 WHIP. O’s batters have a .669 OPS against him.

The Giants are 72-78 and were shutout three straight games until losing 4-3 Sunday to the Padres. Their scoreless run reached 32 innings until the sixth on Sunday. And this was the first time they were blanked three games in a row since June 23-25, 1992.

The Giants have lost four in a row, 10 of 14 and 15 of the last 22 games. In going 11-20 since Aug. 11, the Giants have scored just 3.5 runs per game in that span. 

San Francisco has lost all four series this year versus AL East teams, going 1-2 versus Tampa Bay, Boston and Toronto and going 0-3 versus New York. 

The Giants are opening a nine-game road trip tonight with their first visit to Baltimore since 2019.