O's game blog: Travis Lakins Sr. gets start against Houston

Travis Lakins Sr. gets a spot start for the Orioles tonight as they play at Houston in the second of a three-game series. The Orioles scored five runs in the ninth last night - two more than they scored last week in three games against Houston - and they won 9-7. It was their most runs and hits (15) in one game since June 8 in a 10-3 win over the New York Mets.

Last night the top five in the Baltimore order - Cedric Mullins, Austin Hays, Trey Mancini, Ryan Mountcastle and Ryan McKenna - were a combined 11-for-23 with two homers, two walks, eight runs and six RBIs. Mountcastle's homer in the fifth inning, a two-run shot, put the Orioles ahead 3-2. Hays' two-run homer in the ninth broke a 4-4 tie.

Lakins (1-4, 5.81 ERA) will make his fourth career start. The first three were each as an opener for Boston in 2019. In his most recent start, on Sept. 26, 2019, he pitched two scoreless innings against Texas. In his previous outing this season, Lakins went four scoreless frames on one hit last Thursday against Toronto. He threw just 42 pitches in the longest outing of his career.

Lakins has had five different stints with the club in 2021. In six games in June, he is 0-0 with a 4.35 ERA. Over 10 1/3 innings he has allowed five earned runs with two walks to 10 strikeouts.

Lefty batters hit .238 off the 27-year-old Lakins, and a .619 OPS against. Right-handed batters hit .211/.729.

Right-hander José Urquidy (6-3, 3.32 ERA), who got a win last Wednesday versus the Orioles, will make his 14th start. On the year, over 76 innings he has allowed 60 hits, including 11 homers with 0.961 WHIP. He's allowed 1.5 walks and thrown 7.8 strikeouts per nine innings.

The Astros are 9-4 in his starts and beat the Orioles 13-0 when he pitched last week. Over seven innings he gave up three hits with one walk and six strikeouts on 84 pitches. He has thrown seven innings in three consecutive starts, going 2-0 with a 2.14 ERA in that span. He has gone seven innings or more five times this year.

A few more notes on Monday's win at Houston:

* With a time of game of 4:19, it was the longest O's game of the season, regardless of innings, and was the fourth-longest nine-inning game in O's history, falling just three minutes short of the 4:22 record game on Sept. 5, 1997 at the New York Yankees. The second-longest game went 4:21 on April 30, 1996 versus the Yankees and the third-longest game went 4:20 on May 17, 1996 versus Seattle.

* According to Sports Info Solutions, Hays recorded his second career home run robbery in the bottom of the second inning last night; he also homered in the ninth. In both of his games in which he has been credited with robbing a home run, he has also hit a home run. He also did it against Toronto on Sept. 19, 2019, when he robbed Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

* The O's scored five runs in the top of the ninth inning after the score was tied 4-4 entering the inning. It was the first time the O's had scored five or more runs in the ninth inning since July 3, 2019, when they scored six at Tampa Bay. This game was also tied entering the ninth inning.

* Mullins and Hays each recorded three hits, marking the first O's game in which the No. 1 and No. 2 batters recorded at least three hits in a game since Sept. 23, 2019 against Toronto. Then it was Jonathan Villar and Hays.

* O's pitchers walked a season-high 10 batters in the win, the most walks issued by O's pitchers in a game since July 25, 2019 at the Los Angeles Angels. That game went 16 innings. It was their highest walks-allowed total in a nine-inning game since Sept. 7, 2018 at Tampa Bay, when they walked 11. It was the first game since June 20, 2008 at Milwaukee in which O's pitchers issued at least 10 walks in a nine-inning game and won.