O's game blog: A Tillman-Tomlin matchup tonight at Oriole Park

If you remember all the close games the Orioles played in April, well, we have not seen many lately. In fact, over the four games of the current homestand, the Orioles lost to St. Louis 11-2 and then beat them 15-7 and 8-5. They began a series with Cleveland last night losing 12-0.

Right-hander Corey Kluber was dominant against the Orioles holding them to three hits and no runner even advanced to second base. He threw the shutout on 108 pitches and it was his second shutout of the year and fifth of his career. Meanwhile, the Cleveland offense produced 17 hits, including seven doubles.

Cleveland (37-31) is on a roll right now, winning six in a row by a combined 52-13 score. This is the longest win streak of the year for the Indians, who have won eight of 11. They are 22-14 on the road and 35-22 versus American League teams while going 2-9 against the National League.

Indian third baseman José Ramírez has a sizzling hot bat. During a seven-game hitting streak, he is batting .576 (19-for-33) with 10 doubles, three homers and seven RBIs.

The Orioles lost just one game against Cleveland last season, going 5-1, but that loss total was matched last night. The O's are 5-12 against AL Central teams.

Orioles catchers lead the AL and rank third in the majors with a .283 batting average. When catching, Welington Castillo, Caleb Joseph and Francisco Peña have combined to produce 14 doubles, one triple, 10 home runs and 34 RBIs.

The Orioles are tied for second in the AL and are tied for fourth in the majors in June with 30 home runs. Last season, the Orioles set the major league record for most home runs in June with 56 and passed the 1996 Oakland Athletics, who hit 55 homers in June.

The O's rotation has recorded just two quality starts over the last 14 games with an ERA of 9.93. Since they were 22-10 on May 9, the Orioles have a record of 12-25. The rotation ERA in those 37 games is 6.93.

Right-hander Chris Tillman (1-5, 8.07 ERA) gets the start for the Orioles tonight. In his past two starts, he gave up nine runs over 1 1/3 innings versus the Yankees and allowed 11 hits and five runs in 5 1/3 innings in Chicago against the White Sox. Tillman has two quality starts and the Orioles are 2-6 in his eight games.

Right-hander Josh Tomlin (4-8, 5.83 ERA) will make his 14th start for Cleveland. Over his past two starts, he gave up 16 hits and eight runs (seven earned) over 7 2/3 innings. In five road starts, he is 1-3 with a 4.88 ERA.

Left-handers bat .302 against him and right-handed hitters are batting .325. Tomlin yields a .424 average when pitching with runners in scoring position.