O's game blog: A look at the season series with TB (O's win, 2-1)

The Orioles look to continue their 2016 success against the Tampa Bay Rays as the clubs play the second game of their three-game series tonight at Tropicana Field.

The Orioles are 8-2 versus the Rays this season. They have won six in a row, outscoring Tampa Bay 38-18. They completed their first ever four-game sweep of Tampa from June 24-26 in Baltimore.

The Orioles rallied from two runs down last night to record a 4-3 victory at Tropicana Field. Jonathan Schoop's homer in the eighth broke a 3-3 tie. Pedro Alvarez homered, doubled and drove in two runs. Mychal Givens (7-1) got the win and Zach Britton recorded his 28th save.

Over the 10 games of the season series, the O's have outscored the Rays 50-27, out-homered them 17-7 and posted a .288 team batting average to .238 for Tampa Bay. The Orioles team ERA is 2.66 versus the Rays this year.

Chris Tillman (12-2, 3.41 ERA) looks to become a 13-game winner tonight and pitches against Rays lefty Matt Moore (5-6, 4.46 ERA).

MLB wins leaders:
14 - Chris Sale (CWS)
13 - Johnny Cueto (SF) and Stephen Strasburg (Washington)
12 - Chris Tillman (Orioles), J.A. Happ (Toronto), Jake Arrieta (Cubs).

Tillman, who ranks 12th in the AL in ERA, has allowed just two runs and eight hits over 14 innings his past two starts versus the Los Angeles Dodgers and Angels.

The Orioles are 16-3 in Tillman's 19 starts, going 8-1 his last nine starts. Tillman is 2-0 with a 3.78 ERA in three starts in 2016 against the Rays. In his career he is 7-9 with a 4.23 ERA in 23 starts.

Moore is 0-2 with a 5.27 ERA in two starts this season against the Orioles. In 12 career games, 11 starts, he is 4-6 with a 4.13 ERA. In 11 home starts in 2016, he is 5-2 with a 3.57 ERA.

The Orioles have won three straight low-scoring games by scores of 3-2, 4-2 and 4-3. They are 33-14 at home and 19-22 on the road. Tampa Bay (34-55) has lost seven in a row and is 3-23 since June 16.

Since the beginning of the 2012 season, four current Orioles rank among the MLB leaders in home runs. Chris Davis (181) leads Major League Baseball, while Adam Jones (138) ranks ninth, Mark Trumbo (130) is tied for 10th and Álvarez ranks 19th with 121.

Orioles beat Tampa Bay 2-1: Chris Tillman allowed just one run over seven innings for the third start in a row tonight as the Orioles edged Tampa Bay 2-1 at Tropicana Field. They are 53-36 and maintain a two-game lead over Boston, which won today.

Tillman is now 13-2 with an ERA of 3.29 and the Orioles are 17-3 in his 20 starts this year. Over those last three games, he has allowed three runs and 12 hits over 21 inninings. Brad Brach pitched a 1-2-3 eighth and Zach Britton pitched a 1-2-3 ninth with two strikeouts to record his 29th save in 29 chances on the year. The three pitchers combined on a four-hitter.

The Orioles two runs came on one swing in the second inning. With two outs, Matt Wieters singled off lefty Matt Moore and J.J. Hardy followed with a two-run homer to left. Hardy hit No. 4 on a 2-1 fastball.

The Orioles have won four in a row with three of those games by one run. They have won six of their last seven games and improved to 20-22 on the road and to 24-13 in AL East games.

On Sunday they go for the sweep when Dylan Bundy (2-1, 3.08 ERA) makes his first career start pitching against Tampa Bay right-hander Jake Odorizzi (3-5, 4.47 ERA).