O's game blog: Looking to get back in the win column against Minnesota

After their 10-3 win over Cincinnati on Monday night, the Orioles had a three-game win streak and were 3-1 on this homestand. They were on their way, it looked like, to having a strong nine-game run at Oriole Park. But three losses later, by a combined 22-9 score, the Orioles are 3-4 on the homestand and need two wins the next two days to have a winning run in this stretch at home.

After Monday’s games the Orioles were 19 games over the .500 mark for the first time since the 2014 season. They begin play today at 48-32 (.600) and are 6 1/2 games back of American League East-leading Tampa Bay.

The Birds have lost three in a row, five of eight and seven of their past 12 games. Over a longer stretch, they are 11-8 the past 19 games and finished June with an 8-1 loss to Minnesota last night, completing a record of 13-11 for the month.

Earlier, the Orioles went 1-0 in March, 18-9 in April and 16-12 in May.

The O’s offense over the last six games has scored six, three, 10, one, seven and one run.

Last night right-hander Pablo López blanked them on one hit heading to the sixth, when Adley Rutschman hit a solo homer. Rutschman hit a 2-2 changeup, sending his 11th homer a distance of 360 feet to right-center. It was one of just four hits for the Orioles on the night.

O’s pitchers have allowed 19 runs over the past two games. Their starters in the games allowed 16 hits and 13 runs over 7 2/3 innings as Kyle Gibson went just 4 2/3 innings and Dean Kremer allowed seven runs in three innings last night in an outing that tied for his shortest of the year.

The Twins, who lead the AL Central by one game over Cleveland, are 41-42. Going into this series they had lost three in a row and nine of the past 14.

Minnesota entered the series ranked fifth in the AL in homers, and last night got a solo shot from Joey Gallo, a two-run homer from Max Kepler and a three-run shot from Byron Buxton.

A loss today would give the Orioles a four-game losing streak for the first time in the 2023 season. They had one three-game losing streak previously, from May 6-8.

Right-hander Kyle Bradish (4-3, 3.75 ERA) takes the mound today for his 15^th start and the club is 9-5 in the first 14 games. For the year, he has thrown 72 innings, allowing 66 hits with 20 walks. He's recorded 67 strikeouts, 1.194 WHIP, a 2.5 walk rate and an 8.4 strikeout rate.

Over his past three starts he has allowed two earned runs or fewer each time, compiling a 2.37 ERA. Over his past six starts he has given up three earned runs or fewer each time, going 2-2 with a 3.12 ERA and .600 OPS against.

Righty Bailey Ober (4-4, 2.97 ERA), who stands 6-foot-9, takes the mound today for Minnesota. The club is 7-5 in his 12 starts. He has three straight quality starts, going 1-1 with a 4.00 ERA and .776 OPS in that span. His first five games this year produced an ERA of 1.78, but his ERA is 3.89 his past seven games.

The Orioles finished the month of June with a 13-11 record. Their .542 winning percentage in the month ranked third in the AL and 10th in MLB. The only AL teams with a better winning percentage in June were the Rays (.630, 17-10) and Blue Jays (.593, 16-11).

In the month of June, Gunnar Henderson led AL rookies in home runs (6), RBIs (16), slugging (.640), and OPS (.994). He ranked among AL rookie leaders for the month in total bases (2nd, 48), extra-base hits (T-2nd, 11), triples (T-2nd, 1), average (3rd, .320), on-base percentage (6th, .354), hits (T-6th, 24), runs (T-5th, 10), stolen bases (T-5th, 3), and doubles (T-8th, 4). And his 93.1 mph average exit velocity for the month led all rookies and ranked eighth in the AL (min. 75 ABs).