O's game blog: Wrapping up the rain-shortened series with Toronto at Oriole Park

After they lost on Sunday and Monday and rained out last night, the Orioles' last win came by a 5-4 score in 11 innings Saturday against the Diamondbacks. Today the Orioles wrap up this rain-shortened series now of just two games with the Blue Jays.

After Monday's 3-2 loss in 10 innings, the Orioles are 26-14. They are 14-9 at home, 6-2 against American League East teams, 5-5 in one-run games and 3-3 in extra-inning games. 

Overall, they have won three of five, seven of 10, 14 of 21 and 18 of their past 26 games.

Toronto, which entered this series 0-5-1 in its last six series, is 19-22 for the year, which includes a record of 10-13 on the road. The Blue Jays have lost four of their past seven, seven of 11 and 12 of their last 18 games.

Toronto is now 1-1 in extra innings, 8-6 in series openers and 4-5 in one-run games. 

A win today would give Toronto its first series win versus Baltimore since Oct. 3-5, 2022. The Birds went 10-3 last season against the Blue Jays.

The Orioles offense has cooled over the past 13 games. But it's a stretch where the Orioles have still gone 9-4, thanks to their pitching staff, which has an ERA of 2.14 and OPS against of .552 in this span.

The Orioles have scored four runs their past two games and 49 in the last 13, scoring 3.8 runs per game in this span. In this time, they are batting .211/.277/.392/.669. They have scored two runs or less six times in this stretch.

Bo Bichette has hit safely in 10 straight games against the Orioles, batting .390 (16-for-41) with an .844 OPS. In 31 career games in Baltimore, he is batting .371 with seven doubles, nine homers, 28 RBIs, a .629 slugging percentage and 1.040 OPS. The .371 average is third-highest among active major league players behind Jose Altuve at .416 and Joey Wendle at .381.

Toronto is 6-5 against AL East opponents, going 2-2 versus Tampa Bay, 3-3 against New York and 1-0 versus Baltimore. Toronto finished last year going 21-31 against the AL East, but has now won 19 of its last 32 within the division.

Entering play Tuesday, the Blue Jays ranked first among all major league teams in Outs Above Average (17) while ranking tied for first with the Dodgers and Royals with 31 Defensive Runs Saved. 

O's catcher Adley Rutschman has hit three homers his last two games and has eight for the year. He began play yesterday tied for fourth in the AL in hits (51) and sixth in batting average (.309). He ranks fourth in the AL and sixth in the majors in multi-hit games (16).

Rutschman has hit safely in 20 of his last 22 games since April 19 and 25 of his last 28 since April 11; for the season, he has reached safely in 33 of his 39 games and has a hit in 32 of those. Since April 19, he's batting .333/.347/.594 (32-for-96) with four doubles, seven homers, 11 runs, 18 RBIs, two walks and a stolen base. He had a career-long 11-game hitting streak from April 19-30, the longest by an O's batter this season. 

Right-hander Kyle Bradish (0-0, 1.86 ERA) makes his third start today since returning from the injured list. He allowed one run over 4 2/3 on May 2 against the Yankees and gave up one run over five innings May 8 in Washington.

The Orioles are 2-0 in his starts. He's allowed two runs and eight hits over 8 2/3 innings with a 1.241 WHIP, a 3.7 walk rate and 13.0 strikeout rate. Lefty batters have hit .227 with an OPS of .638 against him while right-handers are batting .214/.639.

In two 2023 starts against the Blue Jays, he went 1-1 with a 2.57 ERA and 0.643 WHIP. But over seven career starts, he is 1-3 with a 5.25 ERA versus Toronto. 

Lefty Yusei Kikuchi (2-3, 2.64 ERA) will make his ninth start today. Friday against Minnesota, he went eight innings and allowed just two runs. He has thrown six innings or more in six consecutive games with five quality starts in that span.

Last year, he went 1-1 with a 4.05 ERA against the Orioles. In 12 career games, he is 4-5 with a 5.44 ERA and 1.510 WHIP against Baltimore batters, who have hit .260 with an .841 OPS against.

Ryan Mountcastle is 7-for-15 with four career homers against Kikuchi and Rutschman is 7-for-17 with two home runs. Jorge Mateo is 7-for-17 with a double and triple.