A look ahead to the Boston series and more O's notes/quotes

The Orioles get their last shot this regular season at the Boston Red Sox starting tonight. The Orioles host a four-game series at Camden Yards.

After the Red Sox beat the Yankees 5-4 last night, they come to town leading the Orioles by three games and the Blue Jays by four atop the American League East. Boston posted another comeback win over New York and completed its first four-game sweep of the Yankees since June of 1990. At 85-64, Boston is 39-32 on the road and 19-9 in AL East games since July 1.

The Orioles are one of four teams currently with a winning record this year against the Red Sox. They are 8-7 versus Boston. The Red Sox are 3-4 against the White Sox, 2-5 versus the Tigers and 2-4 versus the Royals. Boston does not have a losing record against any other AL East team, going 8-8 against Toronto, 9-7 against Tampa Bay and 11-5 versus New York.

The Orioles took two of three at Fenway Park last week. Does winning that series give the O's some momentum and confidence heading into this series?

"I hope so," Mark Trumbo said Sunday. "Hard to say really. But we've battled that team pretty good this year. So I look forward to getting the chance and four games is a really nice way to see where we shake out at the end."

While the Orioles went 6-3 this season at Fenway Park, winning all three series there, they are just 2-4 at home against Boston. They split a four-game series at Camden Yards that began in late May and lost two in a row to the Red Sox Aug. 16-17. Boston has outscored the Orioles 42-33 at Oriole Park in the six games.

Brad Brach on Sunday's win: Orioles reliever Brad Brach is now a 10-game winner. He got the victory yesterday and is now 10-3 with an ERA of 1.70. Only 16-game winner Chris Tillman has more victories among O's pitchers than Brach. He is the first Orioles reliever to win 10 since Arthur Rhodes in 1997.

Yesterday the O's bullpen and power came up big in a 2-1 win over Tampa Bay, but Brach said this time of year you need to get wins however you can.

"There is no playing for the next game type thing right now," he said. "You have to play every game like it's the last and, yeah, winning is the most important thing right now. Win any way you can."

Over the last six games, the Orioles bullpen has pitched to an ERA of 0.87, allowing just two earned runs. Rookies Mychal Givens and Donnie Hart each threw scoreless innings yesterday.

"Any time rookies can get innings like this its huge," Brach said "Especially when the game is on the line. That is great for them and the innings in June and July are definitely paying off now."

Playoff experience can help: The Orioles have several players on their roster that were with the team durings runs to the playoffs in 2012 and 2014. O's closer Zach Britton said that can prove to be beneficial in big games this time of year.

"I don't think you press as much if you're familiar with it," he said. "You go about your business every day knowing if you win a series one time, that next series is still important. When you come down to the end and everything is really close - closer than we've been in a race before with four to six teams in it - every game is important. Our mindset has been the same all year long. Take care of our business and win series. We don't get too far ahead of ourselves in here which I think really helps us."

Britton is now 45-for-45 in save chances and his ERA is down to 0.59. In home games, Britton is 2-1 with 25 saves and an ERA of 0.28. He has given up four hits in 56 at-bats when pitching with runners in scoring position, for a batting average against of .071.

Britton's 45 saves ties Randy Myers (1997) for third most ever by any Oriole. Only Jim Johnson ever had more with 51 in 2012 and 50 in 2013. Johnson went 51-for-54 in saves with an ERA of 2.49 in 2012. He went 50-for-59 in 2013 with an ERA of 2.94.

The homer count: With two more home runs Sunday the 2016 Orioles have now hit 236. At this pace they would finish with 256.5 and that is right about at the team record mark of 257 in 1996.

That mark is tied for the third most in major league history. The 1997 Seattle Mariners hit 264 and the 2005 Texas Rangers hit 260.

The most homers in O's team history:
257 - 1996
236 - 2016
217 - 2015
214 - 1985, 2012, 1998
212 - 2013

The Orioles have six players with 20 or more and three players that have hit 36 or more with Trumbo at 43, Chris Davis at 38 and Manny Machado with 36 homers. Trumbo leads the majors in homers with Davis tied for fifth and Machado tied for 10th most.