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

After an offensive breakout last night, with three homers and 15 hits, the Orioles beat the New York Mets 9-5. They will try for a two-game series sweep this afternoon at Oriole Park.

The O's (16-19) improved to 7-13 at home, 8-6 versus the National League, 4-8 in series-opening games and won their second in a row after a five-game losing streak. The Mets (15-21) have lost five in a row.

The Orioles have scored 5.71 runs per game against NL opponents, going 8-6. And they average 4.53 runs per game versus American League teams, all from the East division, going 8-13.

The Orioles have four different players (Hanser Alberto-14, José Iglesias-11, Renato Núñez-10 and Anthony Santander-10) who have recorded double digit multi-hit games this season. The four players rank as the most in the AL and are tied for the most in the majors with San Diego and Arizona.

Alberto's 14 multi-hit games rank second in the AL and are tied for the third most in the majors. Iglesias has recorded a multi-hit game in a career-high six-straight games, the longest active streak in the majors and tied for the longest overall streak in the majors this season with Charlie Blackmon of Colorado and Seattle's Kyle Lewis. Iglesias' multi-hit game streak is the longest by an Oriole since Danny Valencia also recorded six straight from Aug.4-Sept. 1, 2013. The Orioles record is 10-straight multi-hit games, done twice, by Rich Dauer in 1978 and by Bob Nieman in 1958.

Santander is 4-for-9 his last two games with two doubles, a homer and four RBIs. He leads the team with 10 multi-RBI games. Over his past 25 games, Santander is batting .305 (32-for-105) with 10 doubles, a triple, nine homers, 19 runs and 25 RBIs. He leads the majors in extra-base hits, is tied for first in doubles and ranks third in total bases (88). His 47 hard-hit balls (95 mph or better) lead the Orioles and are tied for the fifth most in the AL.

Major League RBI leaders:

33 - Fernando Tatis Jr., San Diego
32 - Anthony Santander, Orioles; Jose Abreu, White Sox; and Mike Trout, Angels
30 - Manny Machado, San Diego

On the mound today, the O's start lefty John Means (0-2, 8.59 ERA). The team is 0-5 in his starts this year after going 5-2 in his last seven of the 2019 season. Means went four innings, allowing two runs against Toronto his last time out, throwing 74 pitches. He may be bumped to 90 or more today, putting him in position to get even deeper in the game.

Lefty batters are hitting .308 with a .742 OPS against Means while right-handers are batting .261/.966. Means has given up six homers this year, including four in his last seven innings over his two most recent games.

Means has posted a 15.43 ERA in the first inning in his five starts and opponents are hitting .350 (7-for-20) with two walks in the first inning. For his career, Means' first inning ERA is 5.40. He is making his fifth start at home this season. In 22 career games at home, Means is 8-7 with a 3.51 ERA, compared to 4-6 with a 5.25 ERA in 15 games on the road.

Right-hander Michael Wacha (1-2, 7.41 ERA) is set to make his fifth start. The Mets are 2-2 in the first four. Wacha, over 17 innings, has a WHIP of 1.765, allowing 12.7 hits per nine innings and 2.1 homers.

He allowed just one run in five innings in his first start. But in his past three he has given up 13 runs over 12 innings, for a 9.75 ERA. Wacha allows a 9.00 ERA in the first inning. That is 20.25 in the second inning, where opponent batters are 9-for-21 against him with four doubles and two home runs.

The Orioles are 4-6-1 in series play. A win today would give them a fourth series sweep, and they had none last season in 162 games. Earlier they produced three-game sweeps over the Rays, Nats and Phillies.