O's game blog: David Hess faces the LAA in series opener

By Steve Melewski

Orioles

June 29, 2018, 3:01pm

Comments

Well, one of these teams will snap a losing streak tonight when the Orioles host the Los Angeles Angels to begin a three-game weekend series. The Orioles (23-57) have lost five in a row and the Angels (41-41) have lost six straight.

The O's reach the 81-game midpoint of the season after this game. With a best-case scenario of 24 wins then, the O's would be on a pace to finish with a 48-114 record.

Baltimore has lost 16 of 20, and 25 of its past 33 games. The Orioles are 11-27 at home with just one win in their past 16 games at Oriole Park. Los Angeles is 21-20 on the road, 11-14 this month and 0-4 on its current 10-game road trip. The Angels were 37-28 on June 9, but are 4-13 since then.

The Angels swept three from the Orioles May 1-3 in Anaheim winning by scores of 3-2, 10-7 and 12-3. The Orioles are 0-13 versus the AL West, going 0-4 at home and 0-9 on the road.

Orioles shortstop Manny Machado now has 955 career hits, 45 away from 1,000. He is looking to become the youngest Oriole to 1,000 hits in their Baltimore career with his 26th birthday on July 6. Cal Ripken, Jr. holds the current mark, reaching 1,000 career hits at 26 years and 296 days old. Machado is also looking to become the fastest Oriole to 1,000 hits in terms of games played and he's at 843 now. The current record holder is Nick Markakis, who reached the 1,000 hit mark in his 875th career game. Second is Eddie Murray who reached 1,000 hits in his 892nd game.

Machado is batting .303 with 20 homers and 56 RBIs. He ranks 12th in the American League in batting average, tied for fifth in homers and third in RBIs. He has 93 hits and that is tied for seventh in the AL.

The Orioles Mark Trumbo is also closing in on 1,000 career hits, currently sitting at 973. Trumbo has collected 334 hits as an Oriole. Trumbo is batting .326 (14-for-43) during his current 12-game hitting streak. That matches Trumbo's career-high set Aug. 29-Sept. 10, 2015 while with Seattle. This is the longest hitting streak for an Oriole this season, and longest since Trey Mancini hit in 17 straight from Sept. 11-29, 2017.

Right-hander David Hess (2-5, 5.44 ERA) with make his ninth start tonight. In a three-start stretch from May 25-June 7, Hess pitched to an ERA of 0.96 over 18 2/3 innings. But now, over his past three starts, he has allowed 15 runs and 17 hits over 12 innings for an ERA of 11.25. Hess will try to turn around this stretch tonight - one where he has allowed five runs in each of those past three starts.

Right-hander Felix PeÃ±a (0-0, 5.40 ERA) makes his fifth appearance and third start for Los Angeles. His last two outings were starts. Over nine innings against Arizona and Toronto, he allowed 10 hits and four runs. Lefty batters have hit .417 (10-for-24) against him and right-handers hit .192.

On this date in 1971, the Orioles slugged their way to their biggest offensive night of the year. Right-hander Pat Dobson won his fourth-straight game by defeating Detroit 15-6, while the Orioles had 17 hits. Andy Etchebarren and Brooks Robinson hit two-run homers and Dave Johnson and Frank Robinson had three hits apiece.

Bowie All-Stars: Double-A Bowie is sending five players to the July 11 Eastern League All-Star. Infielders Ryan Mountcastle and Corban Joseph, catcher Martin Cervenka and pitchers Keegan Akin and Luis Gonzalez were named to play for the Western Division squad.