O's game blog: John Means faces Tigers in series finale

As the Orioles wrap up a three-game series with the Detroit Tigers this afternoon, Baltimore's Anthony Santander can homer for the fourth game in a row and Tigers great Miguel Cabrera could hit a milestone 500th home run.

Cabrera could, but he will have to do it coming off the bench as h is not in the starting lineup. The Tigers return home to Comerica Park after today's game for a six-game homestand.

Cabrera blasted home run No. 499 in Detroit's 5-2 win last night. He connected against a Matt Harvey breaking ball in the top of the fifth inning to give Detroit a 1-0 lead on his 12th homer this season. The ball, hit on a 1-2 pitch, traveled 387 feet to left-center. Cabrera has hit 25 of his homers against Baltimore pitchers during his career, 12 at Camden Yards.

So he is on the verge of becoming the 28th player in major league history to record 500. He would become the sixth player born outside the United States, the first born in Venezuela and the first wearing a Tigers uniform to reach the milestone.

Foreign-born players to reach the 500-homer mark

* Albert Pujols (676) - Dominican Republic
* Sammy Sosa (609) - Dominican Republic
* Rafael Palmeiro (569) - Cuba
* Manny Ramírez (555) - Dominican Republic
* David Ortiz (541) - Dominican Republic

Meanwhile, Santander has hit four homers in his last three game and 10 on the year. He has homered onto Eutaw Street in back-to-back games and now has three Eutaw Street homers this year and six for his career. That ties Luke Scott for second-most all-time behind Chris Davis, who has 11.

In his last three games, Santander is 8-for-13. During an eight-game hitting streak he is batting .469 (15-for-32) with two doubles, four homers and seven RBIs.

The Orioles have hit 31 home runs over their past 18 games and 28 of the 31 have been solo shots.

During a seven-game losing streak, the Orioles (38-74) have been outscored 68-25. Last night, they ended a streak of six straight games of allowing nine runs or more and a run of six straight games allowing runs in the eighth inning.

Lefty John Means (5-3, 2.79 ERA) gets the start in the series finale. In his first two starts after coming off the injured list, Means allowed nine runs in 11 2/3 innings. But in his past two, he has allowed 12 hits and three runs (two earned) over 11 innings against Detroit and Tampa Bay.

Means has allowed fewer walks (16) this year than home runs (17). The Orioles are 7-9 in his starts. In three career starts against Detroit, he is 1-0 with a 3.57 ERA.

Righty Matt Manning (2-5, 6.33 ERA) starts against the Orioles. He has recorded a 1.547 WHIP this year while allowing 11.2 hits per nine innings with 1.1 homers, a walk rate of 2.7 and 4.9 strikeout rate. The Tigers are 3-6 when he gets the start.

O's center fielder Cedric Mullins extended his career-long hitting streak to 18 games with an infield single in the third inning. It is the longest active hit streak in the majors and the longest by an Oriole since Santander also hit safely in 18 games from Aug. 5-23, 2020. Mullins is batting .347 (25-for-72) over this stretch with nine extra-base hits (4-2B, 3B, 4 HR), five RBIs, 15 runs scored, seven walks, one hit-by-pitch, and five stolen bases.