O's game blog: O's host Boston in series finale (game now underway)

The Orioles hope the weather forecast allows some time to get today's game in versus the Boston Red Sox with the clubs set to wrap up this three-game weekend series. The O's won 3-2 Friday, limiting Boston to two runs. But they gave up season highs in runs and hits on Saturday in a 17-4 loss.

Today's game begins in a rain delay at the scheduled start time, with hopes that they can get this one in this afternoon.

Update: The game began at 2:17 p.m. after a delay of one hour and 12 minutes at the start.

Saturday's game was the Orioles most lopsided loss of the 2022 season.

Baltimore (73-66) plays Game 140 today, and is five games back of Seattle for the final American League wild card berth. They are 5 1/2 games behind Toronto and six back of Tampa Bay. Those three clubs hold the wild card spots as of today.

The Orioles have lost five of seven games, losing the series finale to Oakland, then dropping three of four to Toronto before this series. 

They are now 4-5 on this homestand that is scheduled to end today, and 41-29 at home for the year. The Orioles are 24-12 at Oriole Park since June 22.

Right-hander Kyle Bradish (3-5, 5.30 ERA) makes his 19^th start of the season for the Orioles today. They are 12-6 in the first 18. Bradish allowed three runs over three innings in his most recent game on Tuesday at Camden Yards versus Toronto.

He has a 3.03 ERA over his past seven outings, allowing 13 earned runs in 38 2/3 innings while allowing a .229 batting average against and OPS of .659 in that span.

Veteran lefty Rich Hill (6-6, 4.79 ERA) gets the ball for Boston, making his 22^nd start. For the year he has thrown 97 2/3 innings, allowing 101 hits with a 1.341 WHIP, 2.8 walk rate and 7.3 strikeout rate. The Red Sox are 11-10 in his starts.

Lefty batters are hitting .259 with an OPS of .704 against Hill in 2022 while right-handers hit .265/.790.

Hill has been roughed up a bit in recent starts. He’s given up nine runs and 14 hits his last two starts for an ERA of 10.13. He has a 6.33 ERA over his past six games, allowing a .300 batting average with a .839 OPS in that stretch.

The Birds have gone 10-9 in rubber games this year. Baltimore is looking to avoid losing consecutive home series for the first time since May 31 to June 5 against Seattle (1-2) and Cleveland (1-2).

Jorge Mateo and Cedric Mullins are tied for the AL lead and tied for second in MLB with 30 stolen bases. They are the only pair of teammates in MLB this year with at least 30 steals. The last team to have two players with 30 steals apiece was the 2018 Royals (Whit Merrifield & Adalberto Mondesí). The last pair of O's teammates to each swipe 30 bags in a season was Corey Patterson and Brian Roberts, who did so during the 2006 and 2007 campaigns.

Boston (68-72) ended a four-game losing streak on Saturday and improved to 19-40 in AL East games. Boston is 6-4 its last 10 games, and 8-7 in the past 15.

The Red Sox set season highs in runs (17), RBIs (17) and hits (21). They also matched their season-high winning margin (13, also 5/24 at CWS: 16-3). It was the fifth time the Sox have scored 12 or more runs this season. 

In their last 16 games, the Red Sox lead the majors in hits (176), runs (90), average (.305), OBP (.370), slugging (.466), OPS (.836) and doubles (38). In that 16-game span, the Sox have averaged 5.6 runs and 11 hits per game.