O's game blog: Aaron Brooks faces the Nationals

The Orioles and Washington Nationals end their brief two-game series tonight at Oriole Park. The Nats outhit Baltimore 12-4 last night in an 8-1 win. Matt Adams homered onto Eutaw Street and Juan Soto hit a 443-foot homer in the Washington victory.

Tonight's game will not start on time due to rain. No start has been given but it surely looks like they'll get the game in tonight.

The O's offense has produced just two runs and seven hits in the last two games and just 13 runs over the past six contests.

The Orioles (28-66) have lost three in a row, five of six, eight of 12 and 21 of their last 28 games. They are 12-35 at home and 2-7 versus National League teams.

Baltimore's Hanser Alberto tied Tuesday's game at 1-1 with a solo home run in the second inning, his fifth homer of the season. He was 2-for-4, his 24th multi-hit game, and is hitting .344 (11-for-32) in eight interleague games.

Right fielder Trey Mancini snapped an 0-for-24 skid with a leadoff double in the third inning. It was his 20th double of the season, second-most on the team, and his 39th extra-base hit, which is tied for the team lead with Renato Núñez.

Núñez singled to lead off the sixth inning. He has hit safely in eight of 10 games this month, batting .316 (12-for-38) in July. Núñez is batting .375 (12-for-32) in nine interleague games.

The Orioles starter tonight is right-hander Aaron Brooks (2-3, 4.75 ERA). Acquired July 6 off waivers from Oakland, Brooks made his first start for the club in Game 1 of last Saturday's doubleheader. Not yet completely stretched out after pitching most recently in the Oakland bullpen, he threw 2 2/3 scoreless innings on 32 pitches against Tampa Bay.

Brooks has an ERA of 2.16 over his past eight games, including his last seven with Oakland since May 29. In 16 2/3 innings in that stretch, he gave up 10 hits with one walk, had 14 strikeouts and a allowed a batting average against of .169.

The Nationals recalled right-hander Erick Fedde (1-1, 3.79 ERA) from the minors to make this start. In 11 major league games (six starts) in 2019, Fedde has allowed 37 hits in 40 1/3 innings with 19 walks, 22 strikeouts and a 1.368 WHIP.

In his six starts this year with the Nationals, he is 1-1 with a 3.94 ERA and 1.517 WHIP. In his 11 bullpen games, he is 0-0 with a 3.38 ERA and 1.031 WHIP.

Fedde was drafted in the first round, No. 18 overall, by the Nationals in 2014 out of UNLV. And this came even after he had Tommy John surgery just days before the draft. He was signed to a $2.51 million bonus.

At the end of that season, he was ranked as the Nationals' No. 4 prospect and No. 90 in the national top 100 by Baseball America. He was the Nats' No. 4 prospect after the 2015 season, their No. 2 prospect after 2016 and No. 3 at the end of the 2017 season.

The Nationals (50-43) have won five of six, 13 of 16, 18 of 23 and they are 31-12 since May 24. That is the best record in the majors in that span. Over the last 11 games, Nationals starters have pitched to an ERA of 1.78.