O's game blog: It's Tillman time against the Rangers tonight (Davies scratched for Bowie)

Despite going 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position the last two nights, the Orioles have scored 15 runs on 18 hits in winning the first two games of their series with Texas. The Orioles had three doubles and seven homers in the wins on Monday and Tuesday. In those games, they beat two struggling pitchers. Joe Saunders had given up 13 runs in 8 2/3 innings in his previous two starts. Nick Martinez, last night's losing pitcher, was 0-4 with a 7.62 ERA in his previous six starts. Tonight, the Orioles face a 25-year-old right-hander that has pitched in the majors before, but will be making his first major league start. Miles Mikolas was with the Rangers' Triple-A Round Rock affiliate, going 5-1 with a 3.22 ERA over 16 games and six starts. Mikolas went 2-1 with a 3.44 ERA in relief in 27 games for the San Diego Padres in 2012-13. This year at Triple-A in 44 2/3 innings, he has walked just three and fanned 38. He was originally a seventh-round pick of San Diego out of a Jupiter, Fla., high school in 2009. The Orioles were scheduled to face right-hander Nick Tepesch tonight. Tepesch is 1-1 with a 1.93 ERA over his last three starts. His start has been pushed back to Friday. The Orioles will face Yu Darvish (8-4, 2.42 ERA) on Thursday night. Chris Tillman (7-4, 4.18 ERA), who has been on a pretty solid roll lately, makes his 17th start of the year tonight. Tillman is 2-2 with an ERA of 1.61 over his last four starts. In 28 innings in those four starts, Tillman has allowed just five earned runs. His has struck out just seven batters with eight walks over those four starts. In the four starts that preceded this stretch, Tillman gave up 20 earned runs over 14 1/3 innings. His ERA increased from 3.34 to 5.20. The most recent four-start stretch has seen his ERA drop from 5.20 to 4.18. Twice this year Tillman had starts where he recorded just three outs and one of those was against the Rangers in Texas on June 5. On that day, he went one inning plus allowing six hits and five runs with three walks on 51 pitches. The Orioles can match their season-high by going six games over .500 with a win tonight. They were 20-14 on May 10 and would be 45-39 with a victory tonight. The Orioles have hit four homers in the first inning the last two nights and have 14 first-inning homers on the year. That is fourth-most in the majors. The Orioles have now turned 98 double plays to lead the majors. That is nine more than the White Sox, the next closest team. The O's are on a pace to turn 191 double plays, which would tie a club record set in 1999. Davies scratched at Bowie: Right-hander Zach Davies did not make his start for Double-A Bowie tonight. He was a late scratch due to a stiff neck, but a club official said it does not look like he would need to go on the disabled list. Davies, ranked as the Orioles' No. 11 prospect by Baseball America, has been a roll lately. Over his last three starts, the 21-year-old Davies pitched 19 scoreless innings on just five hits. He walked four and fanned 16. For the season, he is 4-4 with a 3.69 ERA over 10 games. It has been a rough season for Davies, who has already had two trips to the disabled list - the first when he took a line drive off his pitching arm and the second for shoulder tendinitis.