O's game blog: Looking for first win on the road trip

OAKLAND – After falling 5-1 last night and allowing four unearned runs in the series opener, the Orioles play at Oakland again tonight. It’s the second of a four-game series and 10-game road trip.

The Orioles took two of three at home versus the Yankees, but are now 2-2 in series openers and they are looking for their first road win tonight at 0-4 away from Oriole Park.

While Orioles pitching has been stellar to start the season, the Baltimore offense continues to struggle, with multiple players and the team overall not getting much going yet with the bats.

The Orioles have scored 22 runs for the season and 12 over the last five games. They have hit just four home runs, the fewest in the major leagues, and have just one over the last five games. The O’s have scored two runs or fewer seven times, going 2-5 in those games. The five runs they scored Sunday were the most they've had in a game so far this year. The nine hits they got in that game also marked a season high.

Hitter notes:

* Ryan Mountcastle is 5-for-28 (.179) his past seven games. His homer in the second game of the year is his only extra-base hit.

* Cedric Mullins is 2-for-19 (.105) his last five games. He did record the team’s first triple of the year on Monday, but has just one multi-hit game.

* Anthony Santander is 1-for-14 (.071) his past four games, but he has reached base every game this year via a hit or a walk. Santander is seeing 4.53 pitches per plate appearance and his nine walks lead the team. He has walked more than he has struck out, seven times. And his OBP of .450 ranks eighth best in the American League and 14^th in the majors.

* Austin Hays is 7-for-18 (.389) during a four-game hitting streak. He has two doubles among the seven hits. His six walks are second on the team behind Santander.

* Jorge Mateo is 4-for-7 his past two games after a three-hit day on Sunday. That was his first multi-hit game of 2022. He has struck out at least once every game, and his 13 Ks are second most on the squad to Mullins' 14.

The Orioles are starting right-hander Chris Ellis tonight versus Oakland. He was added this afternoon to both the 26- and 40-man rosters, and DJ Stewart was designated for assignment to get Ellis on the 40. Marcos Diplán, who pitched one-third of an inning last night, allowing an unearned run, was optioned back to Triple-A.

Ellis has made one start this year at Triple-A, throwing four scoreless innings without allowing a hit last Wednesday for Norfolk. He pitched to a 2.49 ERA in six games for the Orioles last year. He will be working on five days’ rest.

The A’s starter is lefty Cole Irvin (1-1, 5.40 ERA) in two starts. For the season he has thrown 11 2/3 innings, allowing 12 hits and seven runs, including four homers for an early homer rate of 3.1 per nine innings. He has walked one and fanned six and is coming off last Thursday’s outing against Tampa Bay, in which he allowed three runs over 6 1/3 on 71 pitches.

Irvin was originally drafted and signed in round five by the Phillies in 2016. They traded him for cash considerations to Oakland on Jan. 30, 2021. Then last season he went 10-15 with a 4.24 ERA in 32 starts for the A’s. While he posted a respectable ERA and his 178 innings ranked 10^th in the American League, he did lead the league in losses.

In his one career start against Baltimore, he got the win on April 23, 2021 at Camden Yards. He allowed eight hits and one run in 5 1/3 innings.

Irvin this season has thrown his fastball 46 percent of the time with an average velocity of 91.4 mph. He mixes in his slider and changeup 21 percent each and added a cutter this year that he throws 11 percent.

After Monday’s win, the Athletics are now 26-29 in Oakland Coliseum openers, which includes 20-15 on Opening Day and now 6-14 on secondary openers. Righty Frankie Montas last night made his third start of the season and second career start against the Orioles. He gave up two hits and one run over six innings, throwing 83 pitches.

O’s right-hander Spenser Watkins continued a good run for Baltimore starting pitchers in the series opener, allowing two hits and one run over five innings. O’s starters have allowed just two earned runs over 19 1/3 innings the last four games for an ERA of 0.93 in that span. O’s starters’ ERA the past seven games is 1.48.