O's game blog: The White Sox series begins at the Yard

The Orioles, after splitting the first two games of their series against Toronto, had the third game rained out last night. Tonight the team welcomes the first-place Chicago White Sox to town to begin a three-game weekend series.

The Orioles (28-58) have lost four of their last five games but are 5-6 over their last 11. They are 13-27 at home and now are 11-24 versus American League East teams after beating Toronto 7-5 Tuesday before a 10-2 loss on Wednesday.

Through 86 games, the club has played just 11 games against teams with losing records. They will add to that total later this month when they play Kansas City, Miami and Detroit. And Washington is currently under .500 as well.

On the mound tonight, right-hander Jorge López (2-11, 6.02 ERA) will make his 18th start. The Orioles are 4-13 in his outings this year and have lost five of his starts in a row. In those five games, López gave up four runs or more four times. He went 0-5 with a 7.66 ERA in that span, allowing 37 hits in 24 2/3 innings as opponents hit .352 off him with an OPS of .976. He has allowed nine earned runs over 9 1/3 innings the past two games.

Lefty batters have hit .262 with an .835 OPS against him while right-handers have hit .307/.858. In eight home starts, he is 1-4 with a 5.59 ERA and 1.486 WHIP.

Lefty Dallas Keuchel (6-3, 4.48 ERA) has been struggling in recent games. He is 0-3 with a 9.26 ERA over his past three White Sox starts. In that span he has allowed 20 hits in 11 2/3 innings, giving up a .364 batting average and 1.008 OPS against. The White Sox lost those three starts but are 10-6 overall in his starts for the year.

Keuchel was fifth in the 2020 American League Cy Young voting when he went 6-2 with a 1.99 ERA over 11 starts for Chicago.

Chicago has won its last two games and is 7-3 over the past 10. The White Sox are playing in Baltimore for the first time since April 22-24, 2019. They have won five in a row against the Orioles and are 11-6 in the series since 2018.

Earlier this year the White Sox swept a four-game series from the Orioles at home May 27-30. They outscored the Orioles 18-7 in that series, pitching to a 1.97 ERA in the four games.

Orioles center fielder Cedric Mullins received the most votes on the Player Ballot among American League outfielders for the All-Star Game. Mullins is the first O's outfielder to be named to the game since Mark Trumbo in 2016. He is looking to become the first O's outfielder since Adam Jones in 2015 to start the All-Star Game for the AL and is a potential injury replacement for Mike Trout. The O's have had just one representative in each of the last four games, including this season, with each being a home-grown player. They have had at least one home-grown representative selected as an All-Star every year since 2011.

Outfielder Austin Hays is slashing .297/.321/.473 (22-for-74) in his last 20 games, since June 16. He's hit safely in 15 of the 20 games during this stretch. Hays is batting .375 (27-for-72) against left-handed pitching, the second-highest average in the AL and the third-highest in the majors. He's batting .319 (15-for-47) when facing a pitcher for the second time in the same game.

O's infielder Ramón Urías has hit safely in seven of nine games since his recall from the minors on June 27, batting .333/.405/.515 (11-for-33) with four extra-base hits. In 17 major league games since May 1, he's hit safely in 14 of the 17 and is slashing .373/.458/.549 (19-for-51). Urías is hitting .372 (16-for-43) with runners on base, .333 (7-for-21) with runners in scoring position, and .308 (4-for-13) with RISP and two outs. He's batting .347 (17-for-49) against right-handed pitching and .195 (8-for-41) against left-handers.