O's game blog: Looking for a series win against Royals

The Orioles have had six winning streaks of three games this year and will make it seven if they beat the Kansas City Royals tonight at Oriole Park. They've never gotten to four in a row, but can make it another three-gamer with a win tonight in the series finale.

The Orioles let a late lead get away on Monday afternoon, but have scored 16 runs in back-to-back wins in this series. They went to the last of the eighth behind 5-0 last night and then scored nine runs on six hits, an error and a walk. The biggest inning of the year led to a 9-8 win. The Orioles have now played six one-run games in their past seven games, going 3-3.

Kansas City pitchers threw 69 pitches in the last of the eighth. Per Elias sports, that's the second-highest pitch count in a single inning by the Royals since 2000, one shy of a 70-pitch first inning on Sept. 23, 2006 versus Detroit.

The Orioles (45-93) have won four of five and five of eight games. They are 7-7 in the last 14 games and 21-45 at home. The Birds are 14-4 at home versus Kansas City since 2015.

Ryan Mountcastle's two-run homer in the eighth was his 26th of the year. That puts him two away from tying the team single-season record for rookie homers. He is chasing Hall of Famers - Cal Ripken Jr. hit 28 in 1982 and Eddie Murray hit 27 in 1977.

The Orioles have scored 26 runs in their last four games in addition to 16 over the last two nights in this series.

Last night's produced the Orioles 21st comeback victory of the year. They scored nine or more in one inning for the first time since Sept. 14, 2020 against Atlanta. They are now 6-72 when trailing after seven innings.

Outfielder Austin Hays extended his career-long hitting streak to a major league-leading 15 games with a double to center field in the eighth inning as he went 1-for-5. Hays has driven in a run in a career-high-tying five straight games. During his hitting streak, he's batting .357 (20-for-56) with five doubles, one triple, three home runs, 13 RBIs, three walks and 11 runs scored.

Infielder Kelvin Gutiérrez registered his 11th multi-hit game, his third since joining the O's and his second such contest in his last four games. His two-run single tied the game 5-5 in the eighth. This was the second game-tying hit of his career, also Aug. 26 versus the Los Angeles Angels, but the first to come in the eighth inning or later. It was his first three-hit game of the season, one knock shy of his lone four-hit game on May 4, 2019 at Detroit while with Kansas City. This was his fourth multi-RBI game of the year and first since June 12 at Oakland while with the Royals.

Left-hander John Means (5-6, 3.47 ERA) will make the start tonight for the Orioles, his 22nd. In mid-August, Means allowed 10 runs and five homers over 8 1/3 innings in back-to-back starts. But in three games since then, he has two quality starts and an ERA of 3.63. In that span, he's thrown 17 1/3 innings, allowing 12 hits and seven runs with four walks, 15 strikeouts and two home runs allowed. But the Orioles have lost six straight Means starts and his ERA is 5.28 in those games.

Right-hander Carlos Hernández (5-1, 3.57 ERA) will make his ninth start and 22nd outing for K.C. The team is 6-2 in his starts. And he has given up two earned runs or less in six of his past seven, going 4-0 with a 1.91 ERA. The O's will get a real test tonight against Hernández, who has given up a .197 batting average and .551 OPS against in that stretch. He faced the Orioles on July 18 at Kauffman Stadium and gave up three hits and two runs over four innings.