O's game blog: Birds look to end four-game slide in Boston

After losing their road trip opener 6-4 at Boston last night, the Orioles face the Red Sox again today at Fenway Park. Both clubs are 5-9 after Friday's result. Boston has won two in a row, while the Orioles have lost four straight and eight of nine games.

Right-hander Andrew Cashner (2-1, 5.28 ERA) will make his fourth start. He's thrown 15 1/3 innings allowing 19 hits and 10 runs (nine earned) with a WHIP of 1.761. In 31 starts over two seasons with the Orioles, Cashner is 6-16 with an ERA of 5.29 and the Orioles are 10-21 in those games.

Right-hander Rick Porcello (0-2, 13.50 ERA) will make his third start for Boston. The 2016 AL Cy Young winner has allowed 16 runs (11 earned) and 16 hits in 7 1/3 innings thus far. He gave up nine runs (four earned) in 2 2/3 innings versus Seattle and allowed 10 hits and seven runs in 4 2/3 innings at Arizona.

A few notes on the Orioles:

* During a four-game losing streak, they have allowed 13 homers and 37 runs.

* O's batters have scored four runs or less in eight of the last 10 games.

* The Orioles have just four hits in each of the last three games. They are batting .126 (12-for-95) in that span with 12 runs scored and five home runs.

* O's pitchers have allowed at least one homer in each game of the year, all 14. The major league record for most consecutive games allowing a homer to start a new season is 16 straight by the Philadelphia Phillies in 2009.

* O's pitching has allowed many fewer homers away from Camden Yards. While the club yielded 28 homers during the recent seven-game homestand, they've allowed 10 in seven road games. So that is an average of 1.4 per road game and 4.0 at home

The Orioles' Trey Mancini is hitting .333/.383/.722 (18-for-54) with six home runs, three doubles, 12 RBIs and 14 runs in 14 games. His 39 total bases are tied for second in the American League and tied for fifth-most in the majors. Mancini's 14 runs scored are tied for second-most in the AL and fourth-most in the majors, his .722 slugging percentage ranks seventh in the AL and his 12 RBIs are tied for eighth. His 1.106 OPS ranks eighth in the AL and his .333 batting average is 17th among AL qualifying hitters.

"There was definitely a significant weight lifted off my shoulders."@CrushD19 joins @saraperlman after breaking his hitless streak in the O's 9-5 win. pic.twitter.com/ML8JlIm1DO

-- Orioles on MASN (@masnOrioles) April 13, 2019