O's game blog: Chris Tillman faces Houston in Game 3 of series

With his start pushed back three days due to right shoulder discomfort, the Orioles will be watching right-hander Chris Tillman (15-4, 3.46 ERA) closely when he faces the Houston Astros and right-hander Mike Fiers (8-6, 4.66 ERA) tonight.

The O's seem confident that Tillman is fine and have said he could have started on his turn, but they decided to take the time to give him a few extra days. Tonight his challenge is to slow a Houston team that has scored 20 runs on 25 hits and hit six homers in this series. The Astros had 18 hits in last night's 15-8 win. The O's staff allowed a season high in runs.

The top three batters Friday night for Houston - George Springer, Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve - went a combined 10-for-16 with three doubles, two homers, seven runs and nine RBIs. Altuve, who is batting .365, had a five-RBI night.

Altuve hit his 20th homer last night and became the first Astros player with 20 homers and 20 steals in the same season since Carlos Beltran in 2004. He has hit safely in 10 of his last 11 games, batting .449/.471/.673 (22-for-49) since Aug. 7.

Houston is 62-60 overall and 28-32 on the road. The Astros are 4-1 this year against the Orioles, having won the season series with two games to play. Houston's 15-11 road record since June 14 is tops in the American League.

Fiers will be facing the Orioles for the first time. The Orioles and the Brewers are the only teams he has not faced in his career. In 30 total starts with Houston since his trade from the Brewers in July 2015, he is 10-6 with a 3.87 ERA.

One year ago tomorrow (Aug. 21, 2015), Fiers became the first pitcher to ever throw a no-hitter at Minute Maid Park. He blanked the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-0 with three walks and 10 strikeouts in a 134-pitch no-hitter.

The Orioles lead the AL and rank second in the majors with 40 wins at home. At 40-20 (.667), the Orioles lead the AL and rank second in the majors with the best home record and their 101 home runs at home lead the majors.

The Orioles lead the majors with 188 homers. Mark Trumbo owns the major league lead with 36, while Chris Davis and Manny Machado are tied for seventh in the AL with 28 home runs each. The Orioles have hit 11 homers in this series and 30 in the past 15 games.

In the two games of this series, the Orioles have scored 21 runs on 28 hits, going 4-for-10 with runners in scoring postion. The O's are batting .346 (18-for-52) with RISP in the past eight games.