O's game blog: Alex Cobb faces Boston

The Orioles' last win was a week ago tonight. They beat the Washington Nationals at Camden Yards 7-3. It is one of just four home wins in 17 games this year (the team is 8-1 on the road). Hanser Alberto and Pedro Severino each drove in two runs and right-hander Asher Wojciechowski went five innings to pick up the win.

But since that victory the Orioles lost the series finale last Sunday to the Nats, were swept three in a row by Toronto and have lost the first two games to Boston by 7-1 and 8-5 scores.

During the streak O's pitchers have allowed six, seven, eight, five, seven and eight runs. The Orioles have been outscored 41-22 during the six games. Last night was the eighth time in 2020 that Baltimore pitching has allowed eight or more runs, and they are 1-7 in such games.

The Orioles (12-14) have a team ERA of 4.99 that ranks 21st in the major leagues. Boston, at 5.97, ranks 29th.

The Orioles bullpen has thrown more innings this year than the starting rotation by 117 to 114. Over the last 10 games the rotation ERA is 7.19 and six times the pitcher went four innings or more. That has happened in three of the last four games.

Tonight the O's hope right-hander Alex Cobb (1-2, 3.76 ERA) can reverse that trend. The O's are 3-2 in his five starts. He allowed two earned runs or fewer in each of his first four starts, but on Monday against Toronto gave up five runs and eight hits over 6 1/2 innings. Still, that was one of just three starts by the club this year of six innings or more.

Lefty batters are hitting .212 with a .614 OPS versus Cobb and right-handers bat .196/.653. Cobb got the start July 25 at Boston and gave up one run in 5 1/3 innings. In 18 career starts against the Red Sox, he is 8-6 with a 3.73 ERA and 1.312 WHIP.

Left-hander Martín Pérez (2-3, 4.07 ERA) will make his sixth start, and Boston is 2-3 in his previous games. For the year he has thrown 24 1/3 innings, allowing 17 hits with a 1.274 WHIP. He has allowed 6.3 hits per nine innings and 0.7 homers, with a walk rate of 5.2 and a strikeout rate of 6.3.

Pérez was signed as a free agent over the winter to a one-year deal for $6 million that includes a team option for 2021 for $6.5 million. On July 25, Pérez went five innings against the Orioles and gave up six hits and four earned runs. In 10 career starts, he is 4-5 with a 5.19 ERA against Baltimore.

This season he has been using his fastball 30 percent of the time at an average velocity of 91.4 percent, with cutters 32.5 percent and changeups 29 percent.

Last night, the Orioles starting No. 7 (Chance Sisco), No. 8 (Pat Valaika) and No. 9 (Cedric Mullins) hitters each connected on home runs. It marked the fifth game in Orioles history in which the starting seven, eight and nine hitters all homered, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. It was the first time since Aug. 5, 2014, when Chris Davis, Caleb Joseph and Jonathan Schoop all homered at Toronto.

Last night was the first time in club history when the home runs from the seven, eight and nine hitters combined to drive in all the runs. Before last night, the last time the O's scored five or more runs in a game, all of which were driven in by the starting Nos. 7-9 batters, was Aug. 10, 2012 against Kansas City. It was Nate McLouth with one RBI, Manny Machado with four RBIs and Omar Quintanilla with two.