O's game blog: Keegan Akin pitches series opener

After going 1-3 at Toronto and 3-0 at Houston, the Orioles have arrived in Anaheim, the final stop of their three-city road trip. And the club that lost 20 in a row on the road recently has a winning road mark this trip heading into the weekend series against the Los Angeles Angels.

The Orioles outscored Houston 27-12 in sweeping the series at Minute Maid Park. They had 39 hits in the three-game series, batting .333 with six doubles and seven homers, and went 12-for-36 with runners in scoring position. They posted wins by 9-7, 13-3 and 5-2 over the first-place Astros.

When the Houston series began, the Orioles had been 1-22 over their previous 23 road games and were 1-11 in their past 12 games at Houston. The Astros held the best record in the American League and had won 16 of their past 20 games, and they were 11-1 in their most recent 12 home games. The Orioles had been swept at home by Houston a week earlier by a combined 26-3 score.

O's pitchers allowed just five runs and 12 hits in the final two games against a Houston offense that led the major leagues in runs scored (452), hits (765), batting average (.277), OBP (.352) and OPS (.802), and ranked second in slugging (.449) heading into the series finale. The O's bullpen gave up two runs over 12 innings in the series' final two games.

The Orioles recorded their second three-game sweep on the year. Both have come on the road against first-place teams in Boston and Houston.

Lefty Keegan Akin (0-4, 7.11 ERA), who has been struggling, will make the start tonight, his seventh of the year. Akin pitched to a 4.13 ERA through his first seven outings. Over his past three starts, he is 0-3 with a 12.21 ERA with eight walks and 15 strikeouts over 14 innings. Batters have hit .350 with a 1.070 OPS against him in this span, during which he has allowed eight, five and six runs.

In six road games (four starts) he is 0-3 with a 7.94 ERA, allowing six homers over 22 2/3 innings. The Orioles are 1-5 when Akin gets the start and have lost the last four such games.

After a rainout last night at Yankee Stadium, the Angels pushed right-hander Griffin Canning (5-4, 4.95 ERA) back to start tonight. Former Oriole Alex Cobb was pushed back to starting on Saturday night.

The 25-year-old Canning is 1-0 with a 2.70 ERA over his past three starts, with six walks to 12 strikeouts in 16 2/3 innings. His swing-and-miss rate of 31.7 percent ranks seventh in the American League (min. 60 innings). He has the third-highest run-support average in the majors, as his teammates deliver 7.8 runs per every nine innings he pitches.

Canning was the 2020 AL Gold Glove winner for pitchers. He became the first Angels pitcher to win a Gold Glove since Mark Langston won five in a row from 1991-95. Canning was drafted in the second round of the 2017 draft out of UCLA.

The Angels (39-41) just went 3-3 on a road trip to Tampa Bay (1-2) and New York (2-1). They have won three of their last four, but are 6-9 their past 15 games. The Angels went 12-12 in April, 12-18 in May and 15-11 in June.

The Angels' Shohei Ohtani hit .309 in June with six doubles, a triple, 13 homers and 23 RBIs. He has homered in nine of his last 14 games, with 11 homers in that span. Ohtani leads the majors with 28 homers, ranks third with 63 RBIs, second in slugging (.685) and third in OPS (1.045).

The Angels' David Fletcher has hit .421 (24-for-57) during a 15-game hitting streak, with six doubles and seven RBIs.

Los Angeles is 37-13 when scoring four runs or more, but just 2-28 when producing three or fewer. They are 29-12 when scoring first and 11-6 in one-run games.

These teams have not met since the 2019 season, when the O's went 4-3, winning the season series.

The Orioles played their 81st game Wednesday night, marking the halfway point of their season at 27-54. In both 2018 and 2019 they were 23-58 at the midway point. For the O's, 70 of the 81 games were against teams who currently have winning records. Only three games against Texas, two against Miami, and six against Minnesota were not. According to ESPN, the Orioles have played the majors' hardest strength of schedule.