O's game blog: The road trip continues in Miami

MIAMI – After opening their post-All-Star break schedule with a series win in Texas, the Orioles road trip has moved back to the East Coast. They open a three-game series tonight in Miami at loadDepot park. 

The Orioles (60-39) lead the American League East by 1 1/2 games over the Yankees (60-42) while the Red Sox (53-46) are seven games back in third place. 

The Orioles scored 17 runs and hit seven homers in winning the first two games of their series in Texas. On Sunday, their offense was held to five hits and two runs in a 3-2 loss.

In the eighth inning, Anthony Santander hit a first-pitch two-run homer. It was No. 27 for Santander and his fourth in four games.

Santander hit 13 homers and produced a .960 OPS in June. That number is now .976 in July. In 43 games since June 1, he is batting .278/.326/.639/.965 with 18 homers and 37 RBIs. As of Monday night, Santander’s 18 homers led the majors since June 1, with Shohei Ohtani next with 16 and Aaron Judge third hitting 15 homers in that span.

So the Orioles, who began their last homestand 0-5 before winning the first-half finale, have now won three of the last four games.

But over longer stretches, they have lost six of nine and eight of their past 13 games. They are 11-14 since June 21, but the Yankees are 9-16 since that same date. Meaning the Orioles have gained two games on the Yankees since June 21.

The O’s allowed just eight runs as a pitching staff at Texas. Their three starting pitchers – Corbin Burnes, Grayson Rodriguez and Dean Kremer – combined to allow six runs and 10 hits over 17 1/3 innings.

The Marlins (35-65) came out of the All-Star break splitting a four-game series with the Mets that ended with last night's 6-4 loss. The Marlins are last in the National League East with the worst record in the NL.

The Marlins have won three of the last five after going through a stretch where they lost 10 of 12 games. They are 20-33 at home and 1-7 versus AL East teams going 1-2 against the Yankees, 0-2 versus the Rays and 0-3 against the Red Sox.

While the Orioles rank near the top of the majors on offense, the Marlins are near the bottom. The O's are tied for first in the major leagues with 4.98 runs per game while the Marlins ranks 29th at 3.50.

The Birds lead the majors in homers (157) and slugging (.454) while the Fish are last in homers (83) and 29th in slugging (.356).

Baltimore has more homers its last 50 games (85) than Miami has in all 100 of its games in 2024. This season is the first time the Orioles have had more than 150 home runs through 100 games in franchise history.

O’s right-hander Albert Suárez (5-3, 2.82 ERA) will be making his 20^th appearance and his 13^th start of 2024 tonight. He allowed four runs over five innings in his most recent start versus the Cubs.

Over his past four games, Suárez had allowed five, zero, two and four runs, a mixed bag of two good ones and two not so good. His ERA is 4.50 in that span where he has allowed a .271 batting average and .781 OPS.

In his 12 games as a starter, he is 4-3 with a 3.13 ERA, allowing 21 earned runs over 60 1/3 innings with a 1.326 WHIP.

Versus lefty batters, he allows a .210 average and .626 OPS. Against right-handed batters, those numbers are .255/.697. The Orioles are 7-5 in his 12 games as a starting pitcher.

The Orioles have won their last three series on the road and are 10-3-2 in road series this season (.733). It is both the best road series winning percentage in the majors this season and on pace for Baltimore’s best road series record in team history (17-4-7, .732 in 1997).