O's game blog: Irvin faces Rays looking for series sweep

The Orioles have recorded four series sweeps of three or more games this season and can record a fifth today if they beat the Rays at Oriole Park.

The Orioles (37-19) have posted weekend wins by 3-1 and 9-5 over the Rays to get to a season-best 18 games over the .500 mark.

The Orioles have won three in a row by a combined 18-7 score and are 8-1 over their last nine games by a 55-32 score.

A look at their four series sweeps:

* April 9-11, went 3-0 at Red Sox

* April 15-17, went 3-0 vs. Twins

* May 3-5, went 3-0 at Reds

* May 23-26, went 4-0 at Sox

The Orioles are 2-0 this year against the Rays, 10-5 since the start of last year and are 13-6 at home since the 2022 season. They have won four in a row over Tampa Bay and they are 19-12 in their past 31 games. The Orioles are now 4-0-1 their past five series, counting this one, against Tampa Bay.

Their last three-game sweep over Tampa Bay was from July 31-Aug. 2, 2020 in Baltimore.

The Orioles hit four homers in Saturday’s win. It was their second game of four homers this year matching a season-high from April 11 at Boston. When they hit three or more homers this year the Orioles are 10-2 and when they hit two or more in a game they are 24-3.

The Orioles are 21-11 at home this year and are 4-1 on this homestand against the Red Sox and Rays. They have scored 32 runs in the five games with a team OPS of .821.

Since they got swept three in a row at St. Louis, scoring just eight runs in that series, the Orioles are 8-1 and scoring 6.1 runs per game. They have scored 55 runs in those nine games with 18 doubles, a triple and 14 homers while batting .273 with an OPS of .815.

The Orioles bullpen pitched 6 1/3 scoreless on three hits in Saturday’s win. Over the past three games, the O’s bullpen has thrown 12 1/3 scoreless innings.

Tampa Bay is now three games under the .500 mark at 28-31 and the Rays have lost nine of their past 12 games. Tampa Bay is 9-13 against American League East teams.

The Orioles have a plus-75 run differential while the Rays are at minus-54.

Today, O’s left-hander Cole Irvin (5-2, 2.84 ERA) will make his 11^th appearance and ninth start of the season.

Over his past five starts, Irvin is 5-0 with a 0.59 ERA, allowing two runs and 19 hits in 30 2/3 innings with six walks to 23 strikeouts.

Irvin pitched five scoreless innings Monday afternoon against Boston in the first game of this homestand that ends today. The Orioles are 7-1 in his starts, losing his first of the year but going 7-0 since.

In his eight starts only, Irvin is 5-1 with a 2.58 ERA and 1.103 WHIP. In those eight games, he has allowed just three homers in 45 1/3 innings.

Since last July 2, Irvin has made 26 appearances and 14 starts and in that time he is 5-3 with a 2.92 ERA, a .232 batting average against and .643 OPS. He has a groundball rate of 46.3 in this stretch.

Righty Zack Littell (2-3, 3.47 ERA) gets today's start for the Rays, his 12th. Littell has thrown 62 1/3 innings allowing 66 hits with 10 walks and 64 strikeouts to go with a WHIP of 1.219.

He is 0-1 with a 4.58 ERA over his past three starts and has allowed two earned runs or less seven times with four quality starts. Tampa Bay is 5-6 in his games and he has a 2.35 ERA in three career games versus the Orioles. 

At 37-19 (.661), the Birds have the fourth-best record in the major leauges behind the Phillies (.695, 41-18), Yankees (.683, 41-19), and Guardians (.672, 39-19). Since the start of 2023, Baltimore is 138-80 (.633), the most wins and best winning percentage in the majors. The O's are 221-159 (.582) since the start of 2022, the best record in the AL and third-best in the big leagues behind the Dodgers (.646, 248-136) and Braves (.624, 237-143).