O's game blog: O's and A's open four-game series at the Yard

For the Orioles, a four-game win streak was followed by four-consecutive losses. They lost Wednesday afternoon in Toronto to end a 4-2 opening road trip and then were swept three straight by New York. The Orioles allowed 14 homers and 29 runs in that series.

Tonight, their homestand continues as the Orioles (4-5), in third in the American League East, host Oakland (6-7), which is in fourth place in the AL West. The A's just went 0-3 at Houston in starting their longest road trip of the year. It's 10 games in all including four here followed by three in Texas.

The Orioles went 1-5 against Oakland last year. Since the A's moved to Oakland in 1968, the Orioles are 266-268 in the series and the A's are 65-57 at Camden Yards.

Orioles right-hander Andrew Cashner (1-1, 5.40 ERA) will make his third start of 2019. He gave up six runs in four innings on opening day at New York before throwing a scoreless start in his last outing. He got the 2-1 win on Tuesday at Toronto. Over six innings he gave up four hits with three walks and strikeouts on 89 pitches.

Cashner threw 41 fastballs in that game, averaging 94 mph and topping at 96. He threw 38 secondary pitches in producing his third scoreless start as an Oriole.

Oakland starts right-hander Marco Estrada (0-0, 2.76), a pitcher the Orioles saw often the last four years when he was with Toronto. Estrada has made three starts this year. Over 16 1/3 innings he has given up nine hits and six runs (five earned) with four walks and seven strikeouts. His WHIP is a stellar 0.796 and he's allowed 5.0 hits/nine innings. He's averaged 2.2 walks/nine and 3.9 strikeouts and has given up three home runs.

But despite solid numbers, Oakland is 0-3 in his starts, losing to Seattle, the Los Angeles Angels and Boston. In 2018 for Toronto, Estrada went 7-14 with a 5.64 ERA and 1.427 WHIP.

In four 2018 starts versus the Orioles, he was 2-2 with a 4.22 ERA. In 19 career games (17 starts) Estrada is 9-3 with a 3.43 ERA and 1.163 WHIP. In his career O's batters have hit just .214 off him with an OPS against of .662. Estrada has averaged 88.2 mph on his fastball this year, throwing the pitch 55 percent. He has thrown his changeup 34 percent of the time with an average velocity on it of 76.4 mph.

Oakland starting pitchers went 0-2 with a 10.03 ERA and .411 opponents batting average in three games in Houston after going 6-0 with a 1.16 ERA and .163 opponents batting average a 6-2 homestand versus the Angels and Red Sox. The A's starters have tossed six innings or fewer in each of the first 13 games, which is the longest such season-opening streak in Oakland history.

Meanwhile, the Orioles are tied for the top fielding percentage in the majors with Oakland at .994. They have committed the fewest number of errors in the majors at 2, while Oakland has three. The O's are also the only team in the majors not to have a stolen base against. The club's 14 double plays are tied for the most in the AL and tied for second-most in the majors.