Guerrero and Reynolds look to get offense going as Detroit hits town

The only times this year that Vlad Guerrero did not bat fourth for the Orioles were when he pinch hit in interleague games in the ninth spot in the batting order and on July 24 when he played for Double-A Bowie and batted second in the order. Tonight, Guerrero will bat fifth after Adam Jones and before Mark Reynolds, as he tries to snap a 1-for-22 slump over his last six games that has seen his average drop from .285 to .271. He has gone seven games without an RBI. Meanwhile, Reynolds, who went 0-for-17 with nine strikeouts in the series against Chicago, is just 3-for-35 (.086) with 18 strikeouts over his last nine games. Two of those three hits were homers on Sunday against Toronto. In other O's hitting notes: * Nick Markakis, who hit his 100th career homer last night, has an RBI in four straight games, driving in five runs in that time. Markakis does have an OPS over .800 the last three months at .830 in June, .805 in July and .803 in August. * J.J Hardy went 8-for-18 with two doubles, two homers and 7 RBIs in the series with Chicago. He knocked in at least one run in each game of the series. In seven games in August, he is 11-for-29 with three doubles, three homers and 10 RBIs. * Jones has just three hits over his last 21 at-bats. He is batting just .200 (6-for-30) over his past seven games but has three homers and eight RBIs in that span. * The Orioles took two of three against the Tigers during the season's second series of the year back in April. That was the only time the teams played previously in 2011. The Orioles hit just .245 as a team in that series, but scored 17 runs. Here is a pitching note: * The Orioles starters pitched just 13 1/3 innings in the series with Chicago, allowing 20 hits and 14 earned runs. The Birds bullpen did not allow a run in 14 2/3 against Chicago. Over the last seven games, the O's bullpen has pitched to an ERA of 1.33, allowing four earned runs in 27 innings.