O's game blog: Looking for two in a row at Texas

The Orioles' 5-2 win at Texas last night was just their second win in a series-opening game this season. They won the other series when they got the opener, in the first series at Boston.

Tonight the clubs meet in the middle game of a three-game series at Globe Life Field.

The Orioles entered the Texas series having lost six of the previous seven games and were 2-8 since their 3-0 start. But it was a nice start to a road trip as Jorge López and four bullpen pitchers combined on a four-hitter with 15 strikeouts. Rio Ruiz hit a solo homer and DJ Stewart added a two-run shot, which was the longest of the season by an Oriole.

Longest O's homers so far in 2021:
436 - DJ Stewart
429 - Trey Mancini
407 - Anthony Santander
406 - Cedric Mullins, Rio Ruiz
405 - Maikel Franco

The Orioles bullpen fanned seven in four scoreless innings in the win. The O's 'pen has pitched to a 2.35 ERA the past five games and lowered its ERA for the year to 3.96, which ranks seventh-best in the American League.

O's starting pitchers Matt Harvey, Bruce Zimmermann and López have each allowed two runs in three straight starts, posting an ERA of 3.68 in that span.

Right-hander Dean Kremer would love to keep that going tonight. He is 0-1 with a 10.50 ERA after going just three innings in each of his first two starts. He has given up seven runs and nine hits in six innings with 2.333 WHIP, and the Orioles are 1-1 in those games.

Kremer gave up three runs in three innings on 85 pitches on April 6 at New York, and allowed four runs in three frames on 54 pitches on April 13 in the second game of a doubleheader against Seattle. He is pitching today on three days' rest after that Tuesday start versus the Mariners.

Right-hander Dane Dunning (1-0, 1.00 ERA) gets the start for the home team. Dunning has thrown nine combined innings in starts against Toronto and Tampa Bay, allowing five hits and one run with two walks and 11 strikeouts. His WHIP is 0.778.

He was a first-round draft pick in 2016 (No. 29 overall) by the Washington Nationals out of the University of Florida.

Lefty batters are 2-for-15 (.133) off Dunning this season and right-handed hitters are batting .176 (3-for-17). Batters are 0-for-6 when batting with runners in scoring position.

The Orioles (6-8) are 5-2 on the road. They are 3-4 in night games, 4-1 when they score first and 5-2 when they score four or more runs.

Texas (6-8) is now 0-5 in series-opening games and 0-3 at home. The Rangers had a three-game win streak ended on Friday and they are 2-5 with four straight losses at Globe Life Field.

The O's Freddy Galvis began the road trip with a .148 batting average (4-for-27) over his previous nine games. But he had a triple and double in three at-bats yesterday to raise his season average to .200. This was his first multi-hit game of the season, and his first game with multiple extra-base hits since he was with Toronto on Aug. 3, 2019 playing the Orioles in Baltimore.

The Orioles have posted a team ERA of 3.29 in their seven road games, the second-lowest ERA in the American League and the fifth-lowest in the majors.

Since the beginning of last season, the O's have gone 17-17 in road games.

Center fielder Cedric Mullins' seven doubles are tied for the major league lead with J.D. Martinez of Boston. Each of Trey Mancini's last three hits have been home runs.

Orioles pitchers have surrendered 23 home runs, the most in baseball. And 38 of the 67 runs allowed by O's pitchers this season have come via the home run (56.7 percent).