O's game blog: Mike Wright on the mound in series opener against K.C.

Right-hander Mike Wright (2-4, 5.19) ERA makes his ninth major league appearance tonight and eighth start of the season as the Orioles begin a six-game homestand at Camden Yards. They'll host Kansas City over the weekend for three and then Boston for three games starting Monday night.

Wright came off the disabled list to make the start last Saturday at Toronto. In four innings he allowed seven hits and three runs. In 34 2/3 innings on the year he has allowed 38 hits with 12 walks, 23 strikeouts and a .277 average against.

The Orioles are looking for some solid starting pitching. They had gone 12 consecutive games without a quality start until Ubaldo Jimenez gave up three runs in seven innings Wednesday at New York.

Over the last 39 games, O's starting pitchers have an ERA of 5.81. In that span, they have pitched six innings or more just 21 times with only 14 quality starts.

Left-hander Danny Duffy (7-7, 4.17 ERA) gets the start for the Royals. After going 2-4 with a 5.44 ERA in his first 10 starts, he is 5-3 with an ERA of 3.28 over his last 12 starts. In four career games versus Baltimore, he is 2-1 with an ERA of 2.00. He was the winning pitcher Aug. 25 against the Orioles allowing five hits and two runs over 5 2/3.

Kansas City (83-56) comes to Baltimore sporting the biggest division lead in the majors. The Royals lead second-place Minnesota by 11 games, but have cooled off a bit lately, going 3-6 on a homestand that ended Wednesday.

The Royals have lost back-to-back series for the first time since July 30-Aug. 6. They went 1-3 versus Toronto and 1-2 against Detroit. Before that the Royals were 7-0-1 in their previous eight series. On the season Kansas City is 28-13-5 in series.

Kansas City is 27-17 in series-opening games, 35-29 on the road and 65-13 when scoring four runs or more. The Royals' .278 batting average with two outs leads the majors and is well-above the .243 MLB average.

The Orioles (67-72) tonight are looking for their first three-game win streak since they won four in a row against Oakland Aug. 14-17. They had lost 15 of 18 until taking the last two games of the series at Yankee Stadium. The O's are 38-27 at home.

Norfolk wins: Triple-A Norfolk has evened its playoff series at a win each, beating Columbus 6-1 today. The game was resumed at 4:05 p.m. in the second inning after it was suspended by rain last night. Henry Urrutia hit a two-run homer and Christian Walker added a two-run shot and drove in three for Norfolk. Tyler Wilson took the mound when the game resumed and gave up just one run over five innings. Columbus will host Game 3 on Saturday.

Note to readers: I am in Bowie tonight covering the Baysox's playoff game. But readers should stay here both during and after tonight's Orioles game with your in-game and postgame Orioles comments. Come to the Baysox blog to check on that game if you want and/or leave any comments there on the minors. For the O's game, stay here with comments all night.