O's game blog: Both Orioles and Nationals playing well as they meet tonight

On June 6 the Orioles were 6 1/2 games behind first-place Toronto. Today, they enter tonight's action two games ahead of Toronto and leading the American League East. A lot changed in just one month. A lot can change over the next month. Pretty sure the Tampa Bay Rays would agree with this. The Orioles' recent surge has some similarities to their playoff run of 2012, especially the help they are getting almost nightly from so-called role players. In recent days, players like Brad Brach, Ryan Flaherty and David Lough have come up big for the team. Matt Wieters is out for the year, so Caleb Joseph and Nick Hundley have stepped up their play. Tonight, the Orioles play at Washington. The teams are both contending, playing well now and have similar records with the Nationals at 48-39 and the Orioles at 48-40. Washington has won seven of eight and is 23-12 since May 30. The Orioles have won six of seven and are 22-13 since May 31. The Nationals' team ERA of 3.03 is first in the majors and they've thrown seven shutouts in the last 33 games. That is quite a challenge for an O's offense that is clicking in recent days. Over the last eight games, the Orioles have scored 49 runs with 16 doubles, 13 homers and a team average of .300. Meanwhile, back to Brach for a moment. He has certainly come up big lately for the Orioles. He pitched three scoreless innings on Sunday and has recorded three wins in his last three appearances with six strikeouts in 5 2/3 scoreless innings. Over seven games since his latest recall to the majors on June 21, Brach has pitched 12 scoreless innings, allowing just four hits with two walks and 11 strikeouts. Over 53 1/3 innings on the season between Triple-A and the majors, Brach has walked 19 and fanned 70. That is an average of 11.8 strikeouts per nine innings. From June 27 through the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, Nelson Cruz went 4-for-34. Now he has twice as many hits his last two games, going 8-for-11 with three doubles, a homer and three RBIs. Adam Jones' bat stays hot as he had two hits Sunday to extend his hitting streak to 10 games. Jones is batting .459 (17-for-34) during the streak with three doubles, two homers and six RBIs. Tonight's pitching matchup is a good one with Chris Tillman (7-4, 4.21 ERA) facing Stephen Strasburg (7-6, 3.53 ERA). Over his last five starts, Tillman is 2-2 with a 2.14 ERA. Tillman has not pitched well in interleague games, going 0-1 with a 6.95 ERA in nine starts. Strasburg has pitched very well against the AL, going 6-3 with a 2.39 ERA and allowing two earned runs or less in nine of his 10 starts.