O's game blog: Keegan Akin makes his MLB starting debut

Through the season's first 30 games, the Orioles did not suffer a walk-off loss. But that has happened twice in the last three games and in the same series against the Toronto Blue Jays. Today the Orioles (14-19) will need a win in Buffalo to avoid a second series sweep by Toronto (18-14) this year.

This would be a four-game sweep and Toronto is already 6-0 versus the Orioles. When not playing Baltimore, Toronto has a 12-14 record. When not playing Toronto, the Orioles have a 14-13 record.

The Orioles are looking to break a five-game losing streak this afternoon. All those losses have come on this road trip, so they are also trying to avoid a winless road trip. They started the trip with an 8-1 road record, which was the best in the majors.

The five losses have come by two, one, one, five and one runs. In losing 11 of the last 13 games, five of those losses have been a single run and one loss was by two runs.

Left fielder Ryan Mountcastle hit two home runs, driving in three runs Sunday as part of a 3-for-4 day. Mountcastle is now batting .393/.469/.679 in eight games with two doubles, two homers and five RBIs. He has an OPS of 1.147. His two homers traveled a combined 830 feet.

According to STATS, Mountcastle was the first Oriole to produce his first two homers in the same game since Manny Machado against Kansas City on Aug. 10, 2012. He was the first in the majors to do it since Saturday when Jo Adell did so for the Los Angeles Angels.

The Orioles have been very successful swinging at the first pitch in 2020. They rank first in the majors in batting average (.429), second in OPS (1.168) and extra-base hits (23) and lead the American League and are tied for first in the majors in doubles (14), and lead the AL and rank fourth in the majors in hits (54) as a team on the first pitch.

Anthony Santander leads the Orioles with nine hits on the first pitch. He is tied for seventh-most in the majors and is tied for second in the AL. Renato Núñez is tied for eighth in the league with seven first-pitch hits, while Hanser Alberto is tied for 16th in the AL with six hits on the first pitch of an at-bat.

On the mound today, left-hander Keegan Akin will make his first major league start. He is 0-0 with an 8.10 ERA in his first two career games. Over 3 1/3 innings, he has allowed two hits and three runs with one walk and one strikeout. In that short amount of big league time, he has used his fastball 67 percent of the time, throwing it at an average velocity of 92 mph. He has thrown his slider 29 percent and his changeup 4 percent.

Akin is rated as the Orioles' No. 11 prospect by Baseball America and No. 13 by MLBPipeline.com. Last year, he led the Triple-A International League in strikeouts (131) and became the first Tide to do so since right-hander Manny Hernandez in 1990. He was a mid-season All-Star and became the first Norfolk pitcher to start the Triple-A All-Star Game since 2005. He was the 2018 Double-A Eastern League Pitcher of the Year and finished the season ranked first in the league in wins (14) and strikeouts (142) and third in ERA (3.27). Then he shared the Jim Palmer Minor League Pitcher of the Year award with Zac Lowther.

Right-hander Chase Anderson (0-0, 3.68 ERA) will try to pitch Toronto to the sweep. For the season, he has thrown 14 2/3 innings, allowing six earned runs and 17 hits with four walks and 10 strikeouts. He has a WHIP of 1.432, allowing 10.4 hits and 1.2 homers per nine innings.

On this day ... : On this date in 1966, outfielder Frank Robinson celebrated his 31st birthday with a home run and three hits in the O's 5-1 win at Cleveland. Robinson went on to win the Triple Crown and led Baltimore to its first World Series victory with a four-game sweep of the favored Dodgers.

Happy Birthday Frank Robinson. We raised the HERE flag at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium field today to honor Frank on what would have been his 85th Birthday. #FrankRobinson #20 #frank20 #orioles #halloffame @Orioles @baseballhall @Reds @Indians pic.twitter.com/wMCWwcxjlb

-- HERE50 (@HitItHere50) August 31, 2020