O's game blog: Chris Tillman can become a 10-game winner facing Toronto

The Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays play the third and deciding game of a three-game series this afternoon at Camden Yards.

They have split the first two games with Toronto winning 13-3 Friday night when Michael Saunders hit three homers with eight RBIs. The O's won 4-2 Saturday afternoon as Yovani Gallardo allowed two runs over five innings and the O's bullpen pitched four scoreless innings.

The Orioles (39-28) are 3-5 in their past eight games. Over a longer stretch they have won eight of 13 and 11 of 17 games. They are 17-13 (.567) within the American League East. Toronto (39-32) had a four-game win streak snapped Saturday. The Blue Jays have won seven of nine games and are 23-18 (.561) in AL East contests.

Chris Tillman (9-1, 2.87 ERA) today makes his 15th start of 2016. The Orioles are 12-2 (.857) in his starts. In nine home starts, Tillman is 6-0 with an ERA of 2.39. He has allowed just one run in 14 1/3 innings his past two starts and has recorded quality starts in nine of his past 11 games.

Tillman can become the American League's second 10-game winner today. Chris Sale of Chicago leads the AL with 11 wins while Tillman and Detroit's Jordan Zimmermann are tied for second with nine victories and Zimmermann also pitches today.

In 2015, Tillman went 0-4 with an ERA of 11.72 in six starts versus Toronto. He gave up 33 runs in 25 1/3 innings. When he faced them this year on April 21, he did not get a decision but gave up just two runs and four hits over six innings. In 21 career starts, he is 4-10 with an ERA of 5.65 against Toronto.

Right-hander Marcus Stroman (6-2, 4.76 ERA) gets the ball for Toronto, making his 15th start. Over his past six games, Stroman is 2-2 with a 6.63 ERA. The 25-year-old Stroman was Toronto's first-round pick (No. 22 overall) in the 2012 draft.

In two starts this year versus the Orioles he is 1-0 with a 5.11 ERA. In five career games (four starts) against Baltimore, he is 2-1 with a 3.86 ERA.

The O's Jonathan Schoop and Manny Machado each had three hits in Saturday's 4-2 win over the Blue Jays. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Saturday marked just the second time each produced at least three hits in the same game. The only other occurrence was on Aug. 16, 2015 in an 18-2 Baltimore win over the Oakland Athletics.

At 11-6 (.647), the Orioles record in June is tied for fifth-best in the majors and tied for second best in the American League. The Orioles have a MLB-best 36 home runs in June. The Major League record for most home runs in June is 55 (Oakland in 1996) and the most for any single month is 58 (Baltimore in 1987 and Seattle in 1999).