O's game blog: Going for a two-game sweep in Washington

WASHINGTON - The Orioles, after last night's 2-0 win at Nationals Park, go for a two-game series sweep tonight. The Birds have just one four-game winning streak this year and will have a four-game win streak with a victory tonight.

The Orioles began this season with an opening day loss at Yankee Stadium and then won four in a row. They have not won four straight since.

Tuesday night, Aaron Brooks threw six scoreless innings on two hits and now has allowed just one run in 11 innings his past two starts. The Baltimore bullpen added three scoreless last night.

The Orioles (44-88) have won five of seven games and are 22-42 on the road. They are 2-1 against the Nats this year and 41-32 in the all-time series. The Birds are 20-12 when they get a quality start, as they did last night, and are 13-1 in the last 14 games with a quality start. They are 18-6 when they do not allow a home run.

On the mound tonight, right-hander Asher Wojciechowski (2-6, 4.67) will make his 11th start for the Orioles. The club is 3-7 when he starts. Wojciechowski has a WHIP of 1.259 while allowing 7.5 hits per nine innings, 2.3 homers per nine, 3.8 walks and 9.7 strikeouts. He has three quality starts and has allowed three earned runs or fewer seven times.

The Nationals starter is three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (9-5, 2.41 ERA) who will be making his 22nd start. He has made just two starts since June 6 and spent time on the injured list with a pair of upper back injuries. He came off the IL to start Aug. 22 at Pittsburgh and allowed one run over four innings on 71 pitches.

In a very surprising stat, Washington went 2-10 in Scherzer starts through May. But since June they are 8-1 in his last nine games. And Scherzer, in 11 starts dating to May 22, is 7-0 with a 1.23 ERA.

Scherzer has made 13 starts in his career against the Orioles, going 6-2 with a 2.85 ERA. In two starts last season he went 1-0 with a 1.20 ERA allowing seven hits in 15 innings with two walks and 21 strikeouts.

With Tuesday night's 2-0 win, the O's have won three straight games for the first time since July 25-27 at the Los Angeles Angels. The O's longest winning streak of the season is four games from March 30-April 2. The Tuesday win marked the fifth time that the O's have shutout their opponent this year and the first on the road. The club's last road shutout came on June 20, 2018 at Washington.

The O's Hanser Alberto's 72 hits off of left-handed pitching this season is tied for second-most in Orioles history, tied with Rafael Palmeiro, 72 in 1996. Palmeiro owns the club record with 73 hits off of lefties in 1998. The last player to exceed 80 hits off of left-handers was Ichiro Suzuki, who had 84 for the 2004 Seattle Mariners.

The Orioles bullpen owns a 1.13 ERA over 24 innings since Aug. 20, ranking second in the majors. The bullpen's 30 strikeouts in that span are tied for fourth in the AL and are tied for seventh in the majors. Since then, opponents own a .148 batting average off Baltimore relievers, second-lowest in the majors.