O's game blog: O's begin three-game series at Detroit

DETROIT - Tonight the Orioles begin the second stop on their current road trip looking for their first win. They went 0-3 with a rainout in Boston, were badly outplayed and outscored 20-7. The Orioles spent three days not looking great on offense and defense and with most of their pitchers.

Tonight the Orioles (5-11) open a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers (4-9) at Comerica Park with both teams looking to win their second series of the year.

The O's offense has scored three runs or fewer 11 times already, going 1-10 in those games. They have scored one or less five times, including in three of the last six games. The Orioles have scored 14 runs in going 1-5 the last six versus Toronto and Boston.

Several players are not hitting much right now to include Tim Beckham who went 0-for-11 in Boston, Adam Jones, who is 2-for-19 and Caleb Joseph who is 1-for-19. Chris Davis is batting just .132 for the season.

But Manny Machado is batting well, hitting .368 (14-for-38) his last nine games. Trey Mancini is batting .364 (12-for-33) his last eight games.

On the mound tonight, right-hander Andrew Cashner (1-1, 2.50 ERA) makes his fourth Baltimore start. Since allowing five runs in his Baltimore debut, he has allowed one run and six hits over 13 innings in his last two starts against the Yankees and Blue Jays. Opponent batters are 6-for-42 (.143) against him in those games.

In his only previous career start versus Detroit, Cashner pitched a one-hit shutout for San Diego on April 11, 2014. He gave up a one-out single in the sixth to Rajai Davis and fanned 11, throwing 108 pitches in that win.

Left-hander Francisco Liriano (1-1, 2.13 ERA) will make his third start for the Tigers. Over the first two against Kansas City and Cleveland he went a combined 12 2/3 innings and permitted seven hits and three runs. Lefty batters are just 1-for-15 (.067) against him and right-handed batters are 6-for-27 (.222). He has allowed just one hit in 13 at-bats when pitching with runners in scoring position.

In one 2017 appearance against the Orioles, Liriano allowed two runs over 6 2/3. In 10 career games, he is 2-5 with a 4.14 ERA and WHIP of 1.491.

Liriano has 1,649 career strikeouts to rank seventh all-time among Dominican-born pitchers. Next on the list is Pedro Astacio, who is sixth with 1,664. In 54 career games (47 starts) versus AL East opponents, Liriano is 13-21 with a 4.69 ERA.

Orioles minor league batting leaders:

.457 - Corban Joseph, Bowie
.357 - Martin Cervenka, Bowie
.340 - Ryan McKenna, Frederick
.323 - Kirvin Moesquit, Delmarva

Orioles minor league ERA leaders:

0.82 - Michael Baumann, Delmarva
1.74 - Alexander Wells, Frederick
2.08 - Cameron Bishop, Delmarva and Yefry Ramirez, Norfolk

Corban Joseph is Caleb's brother and his bat has been sizzling the last three games for the Baysox. He is 10-for-14 in that span with two doubles, a homer and five RBIs. His current .457 average is tops in the Eastern League.