O's game blog: It's Chen against Scherzer in Nats-O's series finale

Nationals right-hander Max Scherzer has been one of the best pitchers in baseball this year and the Orioles will have to get past him today to win their series against the Washington Nationals.

Wei-Yin Chen (4-4, 2.82 ERA) faces Scherzer (9-7, 2.12 ERA) this afternoon at Camden Yards in the game to decide this three-game series.

Scherzer had a rare poor start in his most recent outing on Tuesday when he allowed seven hits and five runs in 4 2/3 against Cincinnati. But over 17 starts this year, he has given up two earned runs or less 13 times, one or less 10 times and four times pitched a scoreless start.

Scherzer leads the majors in opponent OBP (.219), strikeout-to-walks ratio (10.2), WHIP (0.80) and average against (.188). He ranks second in the National League in strikeouts and third in ERA.

In 123 1/3 innings, he has walked just 14 and fanned 143 batters. He has pitched three complete games, one no-hitter and has two shutouts. In six career starts versus the Orioles, he is 3-1 with a 3.92 ERA.

Chen has had a strong first half, as well. Over his last six starts, he is 3-0 with an ERA of 2.23. In that span over 40 1/3 innings, he has walked 10 and fanned 35. Opposing batters are hitting just .091 (6-for-66) against Chen with runners in scoring position with 22 strikeouts

Chen has allowed two earned runs or less 12 times, has 11 quality starts and the Orioles are 10-6 in his 16 starts in 2015.

The O's struggling offense has scored three runs or fewer in four of five and seven of their last nine games. The Orioles are without a hit in this series with runners in scoring position, going 0-for-15 and they are 1-for-35 (.029) with RISP over their past five games.

The Orioles have had 15 All-Stars over the last four seasons. According to STATS, their 15 All-Stars since 2012 ranks tied for third with San Francisco in the majors behind St. Louis (22) and Detroit (17). In that same time, 10 different Orioles have been named All-Stars, tied for fifth-most in the majors.

The Orioles lead the majors with 26 outfield assists; Adam Jones has six outfield assists, Travis Snider has five, and Chris Davis, David Lough, Nolan Reimold, Steve Pearce and Chris Parmelee each have one. According to FanGraphs, O's outfielders rank sixth in the major leagues with 15 defensive runs saved.

The Orioles have not lost a series to the Nationals since June 17-19, 2011, going 4-0-2 in six series since that time. They lead the all-time series 30-22 and are 15-6 at home versus Washington since 2008.