O's game blog: A look at tonight's game (O's extend deal with Aberdeen)

The Orioles have 13 games remaining and they are three games behind American League East-leading Boston. They open a four-game series with the Red Sox tonight at Camden Yards.

They'll have to win at least three of these games to gain ground. If the O's manage a four-game split, they would just lose four days off the calender. Anything less than that, and they lose days and ground in the standings.

The Orioles have won the season series the last four years against Boston and lead it this year 8-7, going 2-4 at home and 6-3 on the road. The Orioles are 36-30 (.545) in AL East games while Boston is 35-28 (.556). The Red Sox are 19-9 in division games since July 1.

The Red Sox lead the majors with 830 runs scored. That is 101 more than the next closest AL team in Cleveland at 729. David Ortiz (116), Mookie Betts (106), and Hanley Ramirez (106) are the 13th trio in Sox history to drive in 100+ runs each. No other team has multiple players with 100+ RBIs this season and 23 teams have none.

Coming off their first four-game sweep of the Yankees since June 1990 and with a 12-5 mark over their last 17 games, the Red Sox look to be surging toward a division championship. Unless, however, the Orioles can put a dent into those hopes over the next four days.

Tonight's pitching matchup features rookie right-hander Dylan Bundy (9-5, 3.88 ERA) against veteran Rick Porcello (20-4, 3.12 ERA), who is major league baseball's only 20-game winner.

Bundy has allowed five runs in three of his past six starts, going 3-2 with a 6.21 ERA. But he got the win last Tuesday at Fenway Park, allowing three runs over 5 1/3 innings. In 17 games (six starts) at home he is 4-2 with a 2.72 ERA. The Orioles are 7-5 in his 12 starts.

In five games (two starts) in 2016 against the Red Sox, Bundy is 1-1 with an ERA of 6.00. He has allowed 25 hits and four homers in 15 innings, for a .362 batting average against.

Tonight, Bundy is pitching on five days rest. In three starts this year on five days rest, he is 3-0 with a 1.50 ERA, 1.000 WHIP and .148 average against. His start last week agaisnt the Red Sox was on five days rest.

The Orioles handed Porcello a 1-0 loss behind Kevin Gausman last Wednesday in Boston, his first loss since Aug. 3. But Porcello has 10 straight quality starts, going seven or more innings allowing three earned runs or less each time. It's the longest streak by a Boston pitcher since Pedro Martinez had 11 in a row in 2000. Porcello is 7-2 with a 2.38 ERA in that span, with a 59-to-5 strikeout-to-walks ratio over 75 2/3 innings. In 12 second-half starts he is 9-2 with a 2.44 ERA.

Porcello has made two starts on the season against the Orioles, going 0-1 with an ERA of 3.86. In 14 career starts, he is 3-8 with a 5.19 ERA. In seven career starts at Camden Yards, he is 1-4 with a 5.53 ERA.

O's extend agreement with Aberdeen: The Orioles today announced they have extended their working agreement with short season Single-A Aberdeen, signing a two-year extension through the 2018 season.

The IronBirds have been the Orioles' New York-Penn League affiliate since 2002. Currently, nine players on the Orioles' active roster started their professional baseball careers in Aberdeen.

"The Orioles appreciate the commitment the IronBirds make every year to develop Major League players and we enjoy working with Ripken Baseball to provide entertaining teams for our fans," said Orioles Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations Dan Duquette. "Aberdeen is an excellent town for Orioles players, and we are happy to continue this community investment alongside our goal to provide our fans a perennial contending team."

The Orioles now have working agreements through the 2018 season with Triple-A Norfolk, Double-A Bowie, Single-A Frederick, Single-A Delmarva and Aberdeen.