O's game blog: Closing in on another winning month

After winning three of their last four games and now with a 13-7 record in August, the O's need just one more win to clinch a third straight winning month. That is something the Orioles have not done in six years.

They need one win in the next seven games to clinch another winning month, after going 16-9 in July and 14-12 in June. The Orioles have not had three straight winning months since April (14-9), May (14-13), and June (19-9) of 2016.

The Orioles took a 3-2 lead last night on Ryan Mountcastle’s 18^th homer in the last of the first inning. They never trailed in a 5-3 win over the Chicago White Sox, which was wrapped up when right-hander Félix Bautista recorded a five-out save. Tonight the Orioles host Chicago in the second game of this three-game series.

The Orioles (64-58) moved six games over the .500 mark last night for the fourth time this season. They are 3-2 on this seven-game homestand, with both losses coming by one run and with their past two wins coming by the same 5-3 score. The Orioles are 36-23 at home for the year and are 18-6 in their past 24 home games.

The Orioles are 18-12 in the second half, and their 40-23 record since June 11 is one of the best in the majors in that span. They are winning at a .635 clip in that time frame, which would produce 103 wins over a full year.

The Orioles have won 13 of 20, 17 of 27, 29 of 43 and 34 of their past 53 games.

Mountcastle’s first-inning homer off losing pitcher Dylan Cease was his third in his last eight games, and he has hit four in his last 13 games. He tied a season high with three RBIs, which he's done four times this year. The last was Aug. 19 versus Boston.

Cease fell to 12-6 with a 2.27 ERA. While the Orioles had just three hits in 18 at-bats against him, they pinned a loss on him, and the White Sox had been 18-6 in his 2022 starts heading into the game. Mountcastle’s blast, on a 3-1 slider, went 420 feet to center.

Center fielder Cedric Mullins (1-for-3 with two runs scored and a walk) posted his eighth bunt hit of the season; his 22 bunt hits since 2020 lead the major leagues. He extended his hit streak to six games and is batting .292/.393/.583 (7-for-24) with two doubles, one triple, one home run, seven runs scored, and one RBI in that span.

Catcher Adley Rutschman (0-for-2, R, 2 BB) has 43 walks over his first 74 career games, tied with Curt Blefary (1965) for the most in Orioles history.

Right-hander Spenser Watkins (4-3, 4.04 ERA) tonight makes his 17^th start, and the Orioles are 9-7 in the first 16. He allowed one run and five hits over 5 2/3 innings last Thursday against the Cubs. Watkins had allowed no more than one earned run six times in his past nine starts, going 4-2 with a 2.81 ERA in that time. Over 48 innings he has walked seven and fanned 34, allowing a .246 batting average and .635 OPS.

Right-hander Lucas Giolito (9-7, 5.34 ERA) has struggled lately. He gave up seven runs in three innings last week versus Houston. Over his past two starts he’s allowed 11 runs in 10 innings. In his last six starts his ERA is 7.39 and he has allowed a .347 batting average in that span with an OPS of .907.

While Giolito has good numbers against lefty batters, yielding a .230 average and .641 OPS, those numbers are .336/.978 against right-handed hitters.

The Sox are just 9-13 in his starts this year. But in recent years, Giolito was much better, finishing sixth in the Cy Young voting in 2019, seventh in 2020 and 11^th last year. In that three-season span, he went 29-21 with a 3.47 ERA in 72 starts.

The O's have outscored their opponents 525-512 (+13) this season; they have outscored their opponents 335-279 (+56) in 71 games since June 1 after being outscored 190-233 (-43) in their first 51 games.

The Orioles rank 10th in the majors with 29 defensive runs saved (DRS), according to Sports Info Solutions. Baltimore finished 24th with -30 DRS in 2021, tied for 16th with 1 DRS in 2020, 28th with -53 DRS in 2019, and 28th with -42 DRS in 2018.

The Orioles have turned 108 double plays this season, the second-most in the American Leagues and sixth-most in the big leagues.