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

The Orioles look for their fourth straight win tonight when they play the second game of their three-game set at Philadephia. The Orioles (8-7) won 10-9 in 10 innings last night in a wild, four-hour game. Their offense produced very little through five innings, and then scored 10 runs in the last five innings.

They broke an 8-8 tie when Austin Hays hit a two-run inside-the-park home run in the top of the tenth. Hays hit the first inside-the-park homer in extra innings in Orioles' history. It was the first inside-the-park shot by an O's player since Sept. 26, 2011 against Boston, when Robert Andino hit one off Josh Beckett. The last extra-inning inside-the-park homer came on Aug. 28, 2015 when Blake Swihart did so in the 10th inning for the Boston Red Sox at the New York Mets.

The Orioles had 16 hits and went 6-for-12 with runners in scoring position in the game. The top four in the batting order - Hanser Alberto, Anthony Santander, Renato Núñez and Rio Ruiz - went a combined 9-for-19 with five doubles, six runs and five RBIs.

Alberto is 9-for-23 during a five-game hitting streak with six doubles, seven runs and four RBIs. He ranks 11th in the American League in OPS at .931. Núñez is 9-for-22 his last six games with three homers and seven RBIs. He ranks fifth in the league in OPS at 1.032. Pedro Severino is 6-for-12 his past four games with a double, a homer and six RBIs. He ranks eighth in OPS at .946. Over his past six games, Santander is 9-for-24 with two doubles, a triple, homer and eight RBIs.

Lefty Wade LeBlanc (1-0, 6.91 ERA) makes his fourth start tonight. In the first and third he allowed a combined 10 runs in nine innings against Boston and Miami. In his second outing he allowed one run over 5 1/3 innings versus Tampa Bay. The Orioles are 2-1 in his starts.

Opponents have been jumping on his first pitch. They are 6-for-9 against LeBlanc on an 0-0 count. Overall, lefty batters hit .182 with a .558 OPS against him and right-handers are batting .283/.885. LeBlanc has been pitch-efficient, averaging 15 pitches per inning.

Although he hasn't faced the Phillies since July 3, 2017, he has good career numbers against them. He is 2-2 with a 2.89 ERA in eight career games and three starts. Bryce Haprer is 3-for-10 with a homer off LeBlanc.

The Phillies (5-7) send right-hander Zach Eflin (0-0, 0.00 ERA) to the mound tonight for his second 2020 start. Last Thursday against the Yankees he allowed two unearned runs on four hits over four innings. He threw 77 pitches. In 2019 he went 10-13 with a 4.13 ERA in 32 games.

Last year the 26-year-old Eflin threw his fastball 56 percent of the time at an average velocity of 93.6 mph. He threw his slider 28 percent of the time and his changeup eight percent. He is 1-0 with a 2.57 ERA in one career start against the Orioles, which came in Philly on July 3, 2018.

The Orioles recorded 16 hits in Tuesday's win. It marked the O's seventh game with at least 10 hits. The Orioles collected at least 16 hits for the second time on this road trip after they had 19 Friday at Washington. That is the second most in a game in the majors this season. The Chicago White Sox had 21 hits on Aug. 1 at Kansas City.