O's game blog: Matt Harvey vs. Jameson Taillon in series finale

The Orioles play the finale of a three-game series at New York and also of their two-city, seven-game road trip tonight at Yankee Stadium. They have split two in New York after going 2-2 at Detroit. So whether they go 3-4 or 4-3 on this trip will be decided tonight in the Bronx.

The Orioles got hammered 13-1 last night and it was their fourth loss this year by 11 or more runs. They lost 14-1 June 9 to the Mets and 13-0 on June 23 versus Houston, and those are their biggest losses of the year by run margin. They lost 12-1 to the Chicago White Sox on July 9.

Ryan Mountcastle's RBI double in the eighth drove in the only Baltimore run last night. Mountcastle is 10-for-17 his last four games and has driven in at least one run in five straight games. Over his past six games, he is 12-for-25 with three doubles, two homers and five RBIs. His 18 home runs ties him with Cedric Mullins for second on the team behind Trey Mancini, who leads the team with 19. Mountcastle's 60 RBIs puts him in a tie with Mancini for the club lead. Mountcastle is batting .316 with four homers and 12 RBIs his last 15 games.

Mullins singled and scored on Mountcastle's double, going 1-for-4 last night. That extended his hitting streak to 12 games. He is batting .375 (18-for-48) during this span with three doubles, a triple, two homers and two RBIs.

Right-hander Matt Harvey (6-10, 6.20 ERA), one of seven pitchers in O's history with three or more consecutive scoreless outings of six innings or more, takes the mound tonight. Harvey has thrown 18 1/3 scoreless innings in his past three games, allowing 10 hits with one walk, and recording 11 strikeouts. Opponent batters have hit .156 with a .369 OPS against him in those games.

The Orioles are 10-11 in Harvey's starts, winning three in a row and five of the last six. He is 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA this year versus the Yankees, giving up one run over six innings on April 26. In five career starts, he is 2-0 with a 1.60 ERA and 0.772 WHIP.

Right-hander Jameson Taillon (7-4, 4.11 ERA), also on a pitcher on a strong roll, makes the start for the Yankees. In five games in July, Taillon is 4-0 with a 1.16 ERA and .182 average against. In 11 home starts this season, he is 4-1 with a 3.26 ERA.

The Orioles made four roster moves today, adding right-handed pitchers Marcos Diplán and Dusten Knight from Triple-A Norfolk. To make room on the 26-man and 40-man rosters they designated for assignment infielder Domingo Leyba and pitcher Shaun Anderson. If Diplán and/or Knight get in a game they will be making their major league debuts.

Knight, 30, was signed by the club as a minor league free agent in February. For Norfolk, he is 1-1 with a 1.30 ERA over 25 games and 27 2/3 innings with 12 walks and 27 strikeouts. Diplán, 24, who pitched in the All-Star Futures Game this year, is 3-1 with a 4.12 ERA in 17 games with the Tides. Over 19 2/3 innings he has walked nine and fanned 26.

The Orioles announced their 2022 schedule today as well. Opening day is Thursday, March 31 at home versus Toronto. The O's will play versus the National League Central next season for the first time since 2017. More on the schedule is here.

Minor league honorees: The Orioles have named outfielder Kyle Stowers their Minor League Player of the Month for July and pitcher Drew Rom their Minor League Pitcher of the Month.

Stowers hit .340 with an OPS of 1.076 along with seven homers and 15 RBIs. Rom went 5-0 with a 1.50 ERA over 30 innings. Stowers has been playing with Double-A Bowie and Rom just got promoted to Bowie, making one Double-A start thus far, in which he allowed one run over five innings.

In another note, right-hander Mike Baumann was named the Double-A Northeast Pitcher of the Month for July. Baumann, who has since moved up to Triple-A and made one start there, went 3-0, with a 2.05 ERA in four starts for Bowie. He held opponents to a .169 batting average and fanned 26 with four walks in 22 innings. Baumann is set to make his second Triple-A start on Thursday for Norfolk.