A look at the O's success against the Nationals over the years (plus other notes)

Both the Orioles and Nationals have been winning teams since the 2012 season. Both have been in the playoffs twice since then.

But despite the fact that the Nats have been a pretty good team since then, the Orioles are 17-6 (.739) versus Washington since that 2012 season, and again this year the Orioles will win the season series, leading 3-0 with one game to play.

The O's went 4-2 in 2012 and then went 3-1, 3-1 and 4-2 the next three seasons and then added 3-0 this season.

The Orioles and Nats have played every year since 2006 and the O's have lost one season series, going 2-4 in 2007. Since then, they are 7-0-2 in nine season series. The Nationals will have to wait until at least 2017 to win a season series against Baltimore.

Before 2012, both teams were losing teams. Since then, both have been winners. But throughout all of it, the Orioles have had the better of the Nationals and are now 36-23 (.610) since the team moved to Washington.

The kids are all right: Left-hander Donnie Hart has now gotten 2015 National League MVP Bryce Harper out twice in three games this week, and they were two big outs. Last night, he fanned Harper on a 3-2 pitch with two on and the Orioles leading 5-3 in the seventh. Lefty batters are 3-for-19 (.158) against Hart in nine big league appearances.

An inning earlier, right-hander Mychal Givens inherited a second-and-third, no-out jam and did not allow a run. He fanned Anthony Rendon on a 96 mph fastball, got Wilson Ramos to pop out and fanned Ryan Zimmerman with 96 mph heat. Three big outs.

In nine games this month, Givens has an ERA of 1.50 in 12 innings with three walks and 20 strikeouts. For the season, Givens has fanned 76 over 59 2/3 innings to average 11.4 strikeouts per nine innings.

For starters: Orioles starter Wade Miley provided a better outing last night. He began the sixth inning at 90 pitches but was replaced by Givens after giving up hits to Daniel Murphy and Bryce Harper. Miley allowed two runs over five innings-plus and is 1-2 with an 8.18 ERA in five O's starts.

But this was much better and the second time he gave up two runs or less for his new team. He had also allowed 13 runs in six innings his previous two starts, so this was an improvement. Now he needs to become more pitch efficient and eat more innings.

A MASN graphic when he left the game showed he threw breaking balls 51 percent of the time last night. It was 30 percent on the year before this outing. In the fourth inning, when he went 1-2-3 with a pair of strikeouts against Harper, Rendon and Ramos, Miley threw 21 pitches and 14 were curveballs or sliders.

Series starters: The Nationals certainly have had a better starting rotation this season than the Orioles. But it has not played out that way in the three games between the teams.

The O's starters - Dylan Bundy, Kevin Gausman and Miley - have pitched 17 innings, allowing four runs. That is an ERA of 2.12.

The Nats starters - A.J. Cole, Reynaldo Lopez and Tanner Roark - have pitched 14 2/3 innings, allowing 15 runs (12 earned). That is an ERA of 7.36.

The clutch hits: Last night, each team had a lot of scoring chances and the Orioles went 4-for-12 with runners in scoring position and the Nationals went 4-for-15.

For the last three games, the Orioles are 11-for-27 (.407) with RISP, while the Nationals are 6-for-28 (.214).