O's game blog: Chris Tillman tries to reverse struggles against Toronto today

Today, the Orioles will try to win a series in Toronto in which they start a pitcher they did not draft and face a Blue Jays team starting one they did.

Chris Tillman (5-7, 5.58 ERA) pitches against right-hander Scott Copeland (1-1, 2.57 ERA).

Tillman is 0-3 this year with an ERA of 12.51 against Toronto. He has allowed seven runs in two starts, and five runs in the other, this year versus the Blue Jays. Tillman has allowed a batting average of .356 against Toronto with an opponent OPS of 1.118 and with a WHIP of 2.20.

Tillman has just five quality starts in 13 outings this year, and the Orioles are 6-7 when he starts after going 24-10 in Tillman's starts last year.

The Orioles drafted Copeland in the 21st round out of Southern Mississippi in 2010. By July 2012, they released him when he was 3-8 with an ERA of 6.88 at Single-A Frederick. But he has clearly turned around his career with Toronto and pitched to an ERA of 1.97 at Triple-A. He's been on the Buffalo-Toronto shuttle.

More notes on the Orioles and Blue Jays:

* Manny Machado has three straight multi-hit games and is 7-for-13 in that stretch. In 19 games this month, Machado is batting .364 with six homers, 14 RBIs, a .410 OBP, a slugging percentage of .636 and an OPS of 1.046.

* The Orioles have scored five runs or more in nine of the last 15 games. They have hit 24 homers in that stretch. Even though they have not homered this weekend (neither have the Blue Jays), the O's have hit 20 homers their past 10 games.

* Saturday's win by the Orioles snapped Toronto's nine-game home win streak, which was the Blue Jays longest since 1998. A 10-game streak would have tied the team record set in 1985.

* The Orioles bullpen allowed a run yesterday, but has given up just three runs over the last 12 games, 43 1/3 innings for a bullpen ERA of 0.62 in that span.

After Saturday's games, the teams in the AL East have the best combined record in the majors in terms of most games over .500:

+14 games: AL East
+13 games: NL Central
+5 games: AL Central
Even .500: AL West
-2 games: NL West
-30 games: NL East

The Orioles today officially announced the signings of third-round draft pick lefty Garrett Cleavinger and seventh-round pick, right-hander Gray Fenter.