O's game blog: Looking for a series victory in Boston

With a chance to move back into first place tonight, the Orioles have 16 games remaining in the 2024 season. They lost at Boston 12-3 Monday night before winning 5-3 last night.

The clubs play the third and deciding game of this series tonight at Fenway Park, before the O’s’ take Thursday off and then head for Detroit.

Cedric Mullins homered in the first and third innings in the Baltimore win, producing his fifth career multi-homer game. Mullins is batting .423 his past eight games, going 11-for-26 with four homers and eight RBIs. Last night marked Mullins' first two-homer game since June 19, 2021 versus Toronto, and it was his first time doing so on the road.

On the mound, right-hander Albert Suárez threw another strong game, allowing one run over six innings. Suárez has allowed one run over 23 2/3 innings in his past four starts against American League East opponents. For the season, he is 2-1 with a 1.69 ERA in seven AL East starts.

The New York Yankees (83-62) lead the division by a half-game after losing 5-0 to Kansas City on Tuesday night as right-hander Seth Lugo pitched seven scoreless innings and got 10 strikeouts.

The Orioles ended a three-game losing streak at Fenway Park. They are 9-10 their past 19 games and are 25-25 since the All-Star break.

The Yankees have been unable to pull away from Baltimore while losing four of seven and eight of their past 13 games. Since mid-August they are 10-12, and since the All-Star break New York is 25-22.

With their victory, the Orioles improved to 8-4 versus Boston. 

Right-hander Dean Kremer (7-9, 4.27 ERA) gets the start tonight, his 22^nd. Kremer pitched six scoreless innings on two hits versus the Rays in his last outing. Over his past five games, he is 3-0 with a 2.96 ERA, allowing a .218 average against and .588 OPS.

Kremer has not faced Boston this season but is 2-1 with a 3.68 ERA in four division starts. For his career, he is 2-4 with a 6.45 ERA and .923 OPS against in eight starts versus Boston.

O's pitching generated 33 whiffs (swings and misses) Tuesday, the second most of the season (he got 36 on April 26 against the Athletics). The team has fanned 13 batters in each of the last two games for the second time this season (O's pitchers struck out 14 on March 28 and 13 on March 30 in the season-opening series against the Angels).

The Red Sox starter is Nick Pivetta (5-10, 4.38 ERA) making his 23^rd start. For the year, Pivetta has allowed 111 hits over 123 1/3 innings with a 1.151 WHIP, 2.3 walks per nine innings and 10.7 strikeouts per nine.

In his past two starts, he’s thrown well, allowing three runs in 12 innings against Detroit and the Chicago White Sox.

In his lone start of this season against the Orioles, he gave up three runs and three hits over five innings Aug. 15 in Baltimore. In 13 career games, he is 8-3 with a 3.33 ERA versus the Orioles.

Baltimore is 30-18 (.625) against AL East opponents with four games to play. If the club finishes above .600 against divisional opponents, it will mark the first time doing so in back-to-back seasons since 1979-80 after going 32-20 (.615) against the AL East in 2023. The O's need a 2-2 or better AL East finish to get there.