A tale of Tillman stats and notes

As he takes the mound tonight for the Orioles trying to pitch the team to a three-game sweep at Texas, Chris Tillman has one of the best winning percentages in the league since just before last year's All-Star break. Since June 25, 2012, Tillman (20-6, .769) has the second-highest winning percentage among AL starters, trailing only Max Scherzer (23-3, .885). Miguel Gonzalez (17-7, .708) is fourth on the list after Bartolo Colon (16-5, .762). Among AL pitchers with 95 or more innings pitched on the road since the start of 2012, Chris Tillman's 3.22 ERA is fourth-best, behind Gonzalez (2.83), Felix Hernandez (3.01) and Bartolo Colon (3.11). He also begins today two wins behind the big league leaders in 2013. Major league wins leaders: 13: Max Scherzer (Detroit), Matt Moore (Tampa Bay) 12: Bartolo Colon (Oakland), Jordan Zimmermann (Washington), Adam Wainwright (St. Louis) 11: Chris Tillman (Baltimore), Lance Lynn (St. Louis), Patrick Corbin (Arizona) Tillman also has an amazing career record against AL West teams, going 10-1 with an ERA of 2.03 and seven consecutive quality starts in 12 outings. Since 2010, Tillman is 9-0 with a 1.34 ERA vs. the AL West. Tonight, Tillman tries to continue a stretch where O's starters have recorded six quality starts in the last seven games, pitching to an ERA of 3.13. Take away Jason Hammel's six runs allowed in his last start, and the starters' ERA is 2.25 during this run. The Orioles have won their last four games versus Texas by a 19-7 score, heading into tonight's finale. Note from the minors: The O's ninth-round draft pick, lefty pitcher Mitch Horacek from Dartmouth, gave up just one run over six innings today for short-season Single-A Aberdeen in a win at Jamestown. Since giving up four runs June 29 in his pro debut, Horacek has allowed just 11 hits and one earned run over his last four games and 21 innings. Pretty impressive run for the lefty, who lowered his ERA for the year to 1.90 today for the IronBirds.