O's game blog: Matt Harvey faces the Tigers

The Orioles lost the series opener at Detroit Thursday night and the clubs continue the four-game series tonight at Comerica Park. Miguel Cabrera hit career homers No. 496 and No. 497 last night as the Tigers won 6-2. Right-hander Casey Mize allowed four hits and one unearned run over seven innings as Tigers pitching held the Orioles to four hits on a night they went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

The Orioles (35-66) are 4-2 the last six games and 7-5 since the All-Star break. They are 8-12 in July and lost the opener of a seven-game road trip, leaving the club with a 18-35 road record.

The Orioles had scored 22 runs the previous five games and 53 in their last 10 heading into the series opener Thursday night. Trey Mancini was held hitless in four at-bats as his 10-game hitting streak was snapped. During the streak, he batted .390 with four doubles, a triple, three homers and four RBIs.

The Orioles also went without a homer last night, snapping their streak of six consecutive games hitting two or more. It was their longest such streak since they did that 10 games in a row July 17-27, 2019.

Detroit (50-55) has won 10 games in a row at home since a loss to the Chicago White Sox by 8-2 on July 2. They are 29-22 for the year at home and the 10-game win streak at Comerica Park is their longest at home since they also won 10 in a row from July 14-Aug. 15, 2013.

Overall, Detroit has won three games in a row, scoring six, 17 and six runs. They are 10-4 since the All-Star break and 21-13 since they were 29-42 on June 19.

In an effort to try to slow a Tigers team that has scored 29 runs in the last three games, O's right-hander Matt Harvey (5-10, 6.65 ERA) takes the mound for his 21st start.

Harvey pitched with 10 days' rest in his first game coming out of the break versus Kansas City, and he has thrown back-to-back scoreless starts against the Royals and Nationals. He went six innings in each outing, giving up three hits against K.C. and just one hit versus Washington. So overall in 12 innings in these games, he has allowed just four hits with one walk and six strikeouts. He lowered his ERA from 7.70 to 6.65.

Harvey threw first-pitch strikes to 18 of 23 batters against Kansas City, and to 11 of 19 against Washington. He allowed just four hits in 40 at-bats over those two games.

In the 11 starts heading into the All-Star break, between May 12 and July 7, he went 0-8 with an ERA of 11.20, and he gave up a .374 batting average and 1.035 OPS.

Harvey has not made a start against Detroit since Aug. 24, 2013. In two career games he is 0-1 with a 3.68 ERA. This year, in four starts against the American League Central, he is 1-2 with a 6.46 ERA.

Lefty Tarik Skubal (6-9, 4.42 ERA) gets the start for Detroit. The Tigers' ninth-round pick out of Seattle University in 2018, he has thrown 99 2/3 innings for the season, allowing 93 hits and 22 homers with 38 walks to 113 strikeouts. He has a 1.314 WHIP, allowing 2.0 homers per nine innings with 3.4 walks and 10.2 strikeouts.

He gave up five hits and five runs in five innings in his last start, against Kansas City. The Tigers are 8-10 in his outings. In four July games, he is 2-2 with a 5.73 ERA, allowing a .258 batting average and .803 OPS.

He uses his fastball 55 percent of the time, throwing it at an average velocity of 94.3 mph. He works in his slider 22 percent, changeup 13 percent, curve seven percent and splitter three percent of the time.

Galvis traded: The Orioles made a trade just ahead of today's 4 p.m. deadline, sending shortstop Freddy Galvis back to one of his former teams, the Philadelphia Phillies. The O's acquired 23-year-old Single-A right-hander Tyler Burch.

Burch this has gone 4-3 with a 3.99 ERA between two A-ball clubs. Over 29 1/3 innings he has walked eight and fanned 49 with a .218 average against and a WHIP of 1.091. He is 8-4 with a 2.63 ERA in 35 career minor league games. Philly signed him as a non-drafted free agent out of Lewis-Clark State College on June 12, 2019.

O's executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias told reporters today that lefty DL Hall is not expected to pitch during this minor league season. Further tests revealed a stress reaction in a bone in his left elbow and he will continue to be shut down for now. He could pitch later in the Arizona Fall League. This year at Double-A Bowie he went 2-0 with a 3.13 ERA.