O's game blog: Looking to end the road trip with a three-game sweep

The Orioles' West Coast road trip began with an impressive series win at Seattle against a red-hot Mariners team, and they won the last two games of the series in 10 innings. They lost two of three at San Diego, but a win today would give them a three-game sweep at Oakland to end the trip.

A winning road trip is already secured and so is a series win at Oakland. But they will end the trip at 6-3 with a victory this afternoon.

The Orioles (76-47) have a chance to go 30 games over the .500 mark today and take a 2 1/2 game lead over the Tampa Ray Rays atop the American League East. Toronto is 8 1/2 games back with Boston 11 behind and New York 16 games out.

The Orioles scored eight runs in three games in Seattle, scored nine runs in three at San Diego and have scored 16 runs in the first two games at Oakland. They have 25 hits in this series with five doubles, a triple and three homers.

They have gone 8-for-22 (.364) with runners in scoring position this series after going 8-for-34 (.235) with RISP the first six games on the trip.

Oakland (34-89) has the worst record in MLB, and at its current .276 win percentage would finish this season at 45-117. The Athletics are 38 games behind AL West-leading Texas.

The A's have been swept 16 times this year, and a 17th time would be their most since the 1978 season.

The Orioles have seven series sweeps this year: A two-game sweep of Washington and three-game sweeps against Detroit, at Toronto, versus Kansas City, at Minnesota, versus Miami and against the New York Mets.

Right-hander Kyle Bradish (7-6, 3.18 ERA) will make his 23rd start today. He falls 1 1/3 innings short of qualifying for the AL leaders, otherwise his ERA would rank fifth-best in the league.

In six second-half starts, Bradish is 2-2 with a 2.87 ERA and 1.035 WHIP.

He has allowed two earned runs or less nine times in his last 11 starts. In those games since June 14, Bradish is 5-4 with a 2.36 ERA and the Orioles are 7-4. Over 68 2/3 in that stretch, he has walked 18, fanned 63 and allowed a .195 batting average and .578 OPS against.

The Orioles are 14-8 in Bradish's 2023 starts, winning the past three. He has 12 quality starts, and the Orioles are 9-3 in those games.

O's pitching has posted a 3.68 ERA (157 ER/383.2 IP) in 43 games since July 1, ranking fourth in the AL and sixth in MLB during that time. Their starters have thrown 242.1 of those innings, second-most in the AL and third-most in MLB over that period.

Lefty JP Sears (2-9, 4.27 ERA) gets the ball for the home team. Over 130 2/3 innings this year, he has allowed 118 hits, including 26 home runs, with a 1.156 WHIP, 2.3 walk rate and 8.5 K rate.

The Athletics are 6-18 in his starts, including 1-6 over the past seven.

On April 10 in Baltimore, Sears allowed three runs and three hits on 90 pitches.

Over his past five starts, he is 1-3 with a 5.47 ERA, a .314 batting average against and .933 OPS.  In 10 home starts, Sears is 0-4 with a 4.75 ERA.  

Ryan Mountcastle has reached base safely in a career-high 25 straight games since July 21, the longest active streak in MLB. It is the longest on-base streak by an Orioles batter since Jonathan Schoop reached in 26 consecutive games from April 12-May 12, 2017.

Mountcastle has recorded a hit in 19 of the last 20 games since July 28. His 12-game hitting streak, the second-longest of his career, was snapped on Aug. 11 at Seattle. Mountcastle is batting .387/.466/.565 (24-for-62) with two doubles, three home runs, 12 runs scored, 11 RBIs, 10 walks and one stolen base in 17 games in August.