O's game blog: Another chance to bounce back

They were held to five hits last night in a 7-2 loss to Toronto. The Orioles (12-10) host the Blue Jays (8-11) again tonight in the second of a three-game series.

Toronto's four-run third inning against right-hander Alex Cobb was highlighted by Randal Grichuk's three-run homer. Grichuk has 28 extra-base hits in 28 career games against the Orioles. He is a career .342/.383/.792 batter against Baltimore with 15 doubles, 13 homers and 30 RBIs. He had a bloop RBI single in the seventh for a four-RBI night.

Monday night began a stretch of 14 straight games versus the American League East for the Orioles. They are 5-4 against divisional teams while Toronto is 4-6 against the East.

The Orioles have lost three of four and are 4-9 at home, 9-7 in August, 3-5 in series-opening games and 5-9 when their opponent scores first.

The Orioles start lefty Wade LeBlanc (1-0, 7.13 ERA), who will be making his fifth start. For the year, LeBlanc has thrown 17 2/3 innings allowing 21 hits, including four homers, with five walks and 10 strikeouts. He's allowing 10.7 hits and 2.0 homers per nine innings with a 1.472 WHIP.

LeBlanc pitched to an ERA of 4.09 in his first two starts against Boston and Tampa Bay. But his ERA is 12.15 over his past two starts versus Miami and Philadelphia. He has thrown a total of 6 2/3 innings in those games, allowing 13 hits and nine runs. His batting average against in his first two starts was .195 and it is .419 the last two.

Lefty batters are hitting .250 off him with an OPS of .722. Right-handers are batting .300/.873. LeBlanc is 0-0 with an ERA of 7.27 in two starts at Camden Yards. In four games and one career start against Toronto, he is 0-1 with a 6.88 ERA. When he started against the Blue Jays for Seattle on May 19, 2018, he allowed one run and four hits over five innings.

His mound opponent tonight is one of baseball's top prospects, right-hander Nate Pearson (0-0, 5.11 ERA). Baseball America has rated him as Toronto's No. 1 prospect. He was rated No. 91 in their 2018 national top 100, No. 70 last year and is No. 7 in their most recently released top 100 list. Pearson's fastball was clocked at 104 mph during an Arizona Fall League game in 2018.

Pearson, 23, has just 123 minor league innings under his belt since he was drafted by Toronto No. 28 overall in 2017. He signed for a bonus of $2.45 million. He pitched for three minor league clubs last year, starting at high Single-A, moving to Double-A and ending with a few starts at Triple-A. He went 5-4 with a 2.30 ERA and a 0.89 WHIP. In 101 2/3 innings, he walked 27 and fanned 119.

He has made three starts this year for the Blue Jays. He threw five scoreless innings against the Nationals on July 29 in his major league debut. He then allowed three runs over five innings against Atlanta. In his last start versus Miami, he gave up seven runs (four earned) over just 2 1/3 innings on 65 pitches last Wednesday.

The O's Anthony Santander went 2-for-4 with a double on Monday. His seven home runs are tied for fifth in the AL. His 22 RBIs ranks second in the AL and are tied for third in the majors, and 16 of his 25 hits have been for extra bases. The two hits last night extended his current hitting streak to 12 games to match his career high, set last Aug. 25-Sept. 7. Santander is hitting .340 (17-for- 50) with five doubles, a triple, five homers and 15 RBIs in this 12-game stretch since Aug. 5.