O's game blog: The homestand begins against the Detroit Tigers

The Orioles (11-7) have a couple of streaks going heading into tonight’s game, a series-opener against the Detroit Tigers to start a six-game homestand at Oriole Park.

They are 6-0 this year in series-opening games and their pitching staff has thrown 26 consecutive scoreless innings dating back to the second inning last Sunday at Chicago. The team record for the Orioles is 54 straight innings without allowing a run. That was done by the 1974 team from Sept. 1-7.

The Orioles have their first three-game win streak of the season heading into tonight’s game, and they have won five of six and seven of their last nine games since the start of the Oakland series at Camden Yards.

Detroit (7-10) has a losing record but had won five in a row until Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to Cleveland, which snapped that streak. Detroit has actually played more American League East games so far this year than the Orioles, but is just 1-8 in those games and been outscored 59-21. The Tigers went 0-3 against Tampa Bay and Boston and 1-2 versus Toronto. Their staff ERA is 6.75 and OPS against is .839 in those AL East games.

The Tigers and Guardians combined for 4 hours, 13 minutes of playing time in Tuesday's doubleheader. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the shortest major league doubleheader in which both games went at least nine innings since July 29, 1984, when the Cubs and Mets combined for 4:10. It was the quickest Tigers doubleheader in which both games lasted at least nine innings since Aug. 1, 1980 vs. Seattle, which also lasted 4:13.

The O’s pitching, which has taken a turn for the better in recent days, might be able to keep it going this weekend as Detroit has struggled to hit much thus far. While the Orioles rank fourth in the AL and fifth in the big leagues in scoring at 5.50 runs per game, Detroit is 28^th in the majors at 3.35 per game.

Detroit ranks 14^th and next to last in the AL in team batting (.218), OBP (.278), slugging (.343) and OPS (.621).

Right-hander Tyler Wells (0-1, 3.86) will make his fourth appearance and third start tonight. He has walked just one with 11 strikeouts over 16 1/3 innings, producing an 18.0 percent K rate and 1.6 percent walk rate. Opponents have hit just .183/.197/.350/.547 off Wells in 2023. And he has been pitch-efficient, averaging just 13.5 per inning.

In his most recent start, on Friday at Chicago, Wells allowed five hits and three runs over 5 1/3 innings on 85 pitches with one walk and three strikeouts. Well is 0-2 with an ERA of 9.00 in three career games versus the Tigers, allowing eight earned runs over eight innings.

Right-hander Michael Lorenzen (0-0, 13.50 ERA) makes his second start and will face the Orioles tonight. Saturday he allowed eight hits and six runs over four innings on 79 pitches against San Francisco. In that game, while lefty batters went just 2-for-10 against him, right-handers went 6-for-10 with a double and homer.

He was 8-6 with a 4.24 ERA in 2022 for the Los Angeles Angels. And he finished strong to end his season, going 2-0 with a 2.36 ERA and 30 strikeouts over his last 26 2/3 innings.

Since the start of last season, the O's now have thrown 18 shutouts, fifth-most in the AL and seventh-most in MLB. Baltimore had 11 total shutouts in 384 games from 2019-21.

The club's current 26 innings scoreless stretch marks the team's longest scoreless streak since a 28-inning run from Aug. 3-6, 2012.

Baltimore went 4-1 on the road trip against the White Sox (2-1) and Nationals. O's pitchers combined for a 2.60 ERA (13 ER/45.0 IP) with 44 strikeouts, including a 1.08 ERA (2 ER/16.2 IP) and 20 strikeouts by the bullpen.