O's game blog: Albert Suárez faces the Rays in series opener

After Thursday’s off-day, the Orioles return to Oriole Park tonight to begin a three-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays. It continues a 14-game run of playing all American League East foes.

The Orioles (35-19) are on a 105-win pace after Wednesday’s 6-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox. They won that series with Boston and extended to 18 their streak of series versus AL East opponents without losing one. They are 39-19 (.672) in this stretch of series within the division. The Orioles improved to 5-1 against Boston, scoring 43 runs in those games, and to 9-3 on the year against AL East opponents.

Against a Boston pitching staff that began that series ranked second in the AL in team ERA (3.09) and starting rotation ERA (2.95), the Orioles scored 20 runs in the series on 27 hits with seven doubles, a triple and two homers, and they went 9-for-28 batting with runners in scoring position.

In the six games this season versus Boston, the Orioles have a team batting line of .271/.346/.449/.793. And in 12 AL East games in 2024 they have scored 61 runs with a .723 team OPS.

Winners of six of their past seven games, the Orioles are 19-11 at home and 12-4-2 in 18 series on the year.

Gunnar Henderson hit his 50^th big league home run - with his second career grand slam - in the bottom of the second inning Wednesday to provide a 5-1 lead. It was his 18th homer of this season. Henderson has homered six times his past 13 games, eight in the last 19 and 15 in his last 39 games. His other slam came on June 13, 2023 versus Toronto.

He became the fourth player in club history to have 50 homers before his 23^rd birthday, joining Manny Machado, Eddie Murray and Boog Powell. Henderson was 0-for-4 this season with three strikeouts with the bases loaded until connecting on Kutter Crawford’s 1-0 sweeper, which Henderson hit 422 feet.

On the mound, winning pitcher Corbin Burnes allowed three hits and one unearned run over seven innings, throwing 108 pitches, an O’s season high. He is now 5-2 and his 2.35 ERA is lower than the 2.43 mark he posted when he won the 2021 National League Cy Young Award.

As of Thursday, the O’s 3.03 rotation ERA was second-best in the AL and third-best in the major leagues. Over the last five games, the O’s have a 1.24 rotation ERA. In 15 games since May 13, the starters have pitched to an ERA of 2.14 with seven quality starts.

The Tampa Bay Rays (28-29) beat Oakland 6-5 at home in 12 innings Thursday to win that series and completed a 3-6 homestand. The Rays went 0-3 against Boston, 1-2 versus Kansas City and 2-1 against Oakland.

Tampa Bay has won three of its last four after losing six in a row, and overall has lost seven of its past 10 games. Since they were 14-18 on May 1, the Rays are 14-11.

Tampa Bay is 11-11 on the road and 9-11 against AL East teams. Tampa Bay is 8-8-2 in series play. When the Rays score three runs or fewer, they are 6-20, and when scoring four or more they are 22-9.

Right-hander Albert Suárez (2-0, 1.53 ERA) gets the start for the O's tonight, making his 12th appearance and fifth start. He threw four scoreless innings in his start last Saturday at Chicago. The O's are 3-1 in his starts. In those four games only, he is 1-0 with a 1.86 ERA. He has thrown 9 2/3 scoreless innings over his past six games.

Righty Aaron Civale (2-4, 5.72 ERA) gets the start for Tampa Bay. He began the year with a 2.74 ERA over four starts. But in his last seven games, is 0-3 with a 7.75 ERA and .870 OPS against. In three career starts versus the Orioles he is 2-0 with a 6.75 ERA. 

Attendance note from the team: Oriole Park at Camden Yards has drawn 764,016 fans to begin this season, up 27 percent from 602,069 during the first 30 games last year. The 27 percent increase is the second-biggest jump in the majors behind the defending National League Champion Arizona Diamondbacks. The club's average attendance of 25,467 in 2024 is up from 20,069 in 2023.