O's game blog: The Red Sox series begins

The Orioles who have lost only two American League East series this year - one to the Yankees, one to the Blue Jays - get back into division play tonight when they host Boston to start a four-game series at Oriole Park.

The Orioles (71-50) and the third-place Red Sox (63-56) are the only two clubs in the division that have winning records in 2024 in AL East games.

.667 - Orioles (26-13)
.519 - Boston (14-13)
.489 - New York (22-23)
.425 - Tampa Bay (17-23)
.415 - Toronto (17-24)

The Orioles are 8-2-2 this season in 12 AL East series. They are 18-2-6 their past 26 division series dating to early last April.

The Birds are 5-1 this season versus Boston, sweeping three in Boston from April 9-11 and going 2-1 at home May 27-29. The O's in this series have a chance to win each of their first three series against Boston in a season for the first time since 1976.

The Orioles are 10-4 against Boston since April 26, 2023.

Boston is a pretty good road team. And, at 34-24 (.586) on the road, Boston holds the AL's third-best record behind NYY (40-23) and BAL (36-24). The Sox are 5-3 in their last eight road games after losing each of their previous four. They are 15-9 in their last 24 road games and 22-13 (.629) in their last 35 away from Fenway Park.

Since the start of June, the Red Sox have batted .279/.344/.475/.822, while averaging 5.62 runs scored and 9.93 hits per game. They lead MLB during that span in AVG and lead the AL in OBP, SLG, and OPS. Since June 17, Boston is second in the AL with 74 homers, trailing only the NYY's 76.

The Orioles split the last two games with Washington, losing 9-3 Tuesday and winning 4-1 last night as Dean Kremer went six innings and three bullpen pitchers completed a five-hitter. The Orioles improved to 2-2 on the year versus the Nats and to 15-19 this year against National League teams. They are now 57-41 all-time against Washington and 9-3 since 2022.

The Red Sox have allowed 52 home runs since the All-Star break, 12 more than any other major league team. Boston’s opposing slugging percentage of .528 would be the highest allowed post-ASB since the St. Louis Browns in 1940 (.540).

Gunnar Henderson leads the Orioles with 95 runs this season, which is 15.6% of the total runs scored by Baltimore this season. That would be the highest percentage of team runs scored by an Oriole since Cal Ripken Jr. in 1988 (15.8%).

Jackson Holliday, who turns 21 in December, has five home runs in his MLB career. The only Orioles to have more career HR prior to turning 21 are Manny Machado (13) and Boog Powell (12).

In the series opener tonight, right-hander Zach Eflin (8-7, 3.83 ERA) will make his 23rd start of the year and his fourth as an Oriole. The club has won each of his three starts with Eflin going 3-0 with a 2.33 ERA. He pitched seven scoreless on Friday night at Tampa Bay.

Over his past six starts - three each with the Rays and O's - Eflin is 3-2 with a 2.92 ERA and .642 OPS against.

Righty Nick Pivetta (5-7, 4.44 ERA) will make his 19th start for Boston. The Red Sox are 10-8 in the first 18. Lefty batters have just a .611 OPS in 2024 off Pivetta while right-handers have an OPS of .823.

He has not faced the Orioles this year. But, in 12 career starts, is 8-2 with a 3.18 ERA, .216 average against and .643 OPS. 

Farm honors: The Orioles have named Aron Estrada their Minor League Player of the Month for July and right-hander Kevin Velasco their Pitcher of the Month.

For Low-A Delmarva, Estrada, recently promoted to High-A Aberdeen, batted .346 in the month, leading the O's farm in hits, average and total bases.

Velasco, for the Dominican Summer League Orioles, pitched 16 innings without allowing a run in July. He gave up seven hits with two walks and 20 strikeouts.