O's game blog: Important O's-Jays AL East series begins at Camden Yards

They have been the leaders in the American League East more days this season (111 of 148) than any other team. But with 32 games left, the Orioles find themselves three games out of first place.

They get a chance to cut into that deficit the next three days, hosting first-place Toronto at Camden Yards. The Orioles (71-59) have won four of seven, but have lost 19 of 32 games over a longer stretch and they are 20-23 since the All-Star break. Toronto (74-56) is a season-high 18 games over the .500 mark with nine wins in its last 14 games and a record of 23-16 in the second half.

Toronto scored 32 runs on 38 hits in its three-game weekend sweep of Minnesota. The Blue Jays hit nine homers in the series. Josh Donaldson hit three homers on Sunday for his 10th career multi-homer game. He is batting .385 (10-for-26) during a seven-game hitting streak with five homers and 11 RBIs.

The Orioles are 6-7 against the Jays this season, but they are 4-2 and have won both series between the clubs at Camden Yards. Toronto is winless in its last four series (0-3-1) series at Camden Yards, going 5-8 over 13 games.

Left-hander Wade Miley (8-10, 5.51 ERA) makes his 25th start tonight and his sixth as an Oriole. Right-hander Marco Estrada (7-6, 3.47 ERA) pitches for Toronto.

Miley gave up two runs on seven hits in five innings on Wednesday against the Nationals. That was a nice turnaround from his previous two starts, when he gave up 13 runs over six innings. Overall, in five O's starts, he is 1-2 with a 8.18 ERA.

Miley made a start on July 24 for Seattle against Toronto and gave up two runs and four hits over six innings. In five career starts versus the Blue Jays, he is 1-3 with a ERA of 6.04 and WHIP of 1.855.

Estrada has had back-to-back subpar starts against the Yankees and Angels, going a combined nine innings and allowing 15 hits, 11 runs and five homers. His ERA jumped from 2.95 to 3.47 after the two games.

But he ranks first in the AL among qualifying pitchers in giving up just 6.7 hits per nine innings and first in opponent batting average at .201. Left-handed batters hit just .196 against him and right-handed batters are at .206. He has given up an average of just .173 when pitching with runners in scoring position.

In 10 road starts, Estrada is 4-1 with a 3.68 ERA. In three starts this season against Baltimore he is 1-0 with a 3.71 ERA. He has made nine career appearances (seven starts) against the O's going 3-1 with a 3.53 ERA and 1.154 WHIP.

The Orioles-Blue Jays series features the top two home run hitting clubs in the major leagues and the top two home run hitters in the majors since 2012. The Orioles lead the majors with 204 homers and Toronto is second at 190. Chris Davis leads the majors with 191 since 2012 and Edwin Encarnacion of Toronto is second with 187.

According to Elias Sports Bureau, Mark Trumbo is the third player in O's history to hit 40 homers in his first year with the club. Nelson Cruz hit 40 in 2014 and Frank Robinson hit 49 in 1966.