O's game blog: O's host Chicago White Sox in series opener

The Orioles have eight games left in August and 41 remaining in the regular season as they host the Chicago White Sox tonight to continue their homestand, which took a detour Sunday night to Williamsport, Pa.

The Orioles (63-58) won that game 5-2 over the Boston Red Sox to win another series. The Orioles are 19-17-4 in series play in 2022. They have lost five of nine games, but over longer stretches have won 12 of 19 and 28 of the last 42 games. They are 35-23 at home.

The Orioles begin play tonight 2.5 games behind for the final American League wild card playoff spot. Minnesota is three games back of that spot, and the White Sox (62-60) are four games behind.

Of the 41 games the O's have left, 26 are against current winning teams and 15 are against teams with losing records. Of the 26 games with the winning clubs, they will play Toronto 10 times, Houston seven times and three each against the White Sox, Guardians and Yankees. Of the games against opponents now under .500, they will play Boston seven times, meet Oakland and Detroit for three games each, and go to Washington for two.

Of those 41 games, they will play 23 at home and 18 on the road. They have 20 games remaining against AL East opponents and actually more (21) outside of the division. Their next 12 games are versus non-AL East opponents.

The Orioles are 17-12 (.586) in the second half, 42-28 (.600) since June 1 and 56-44 (.560) since May 1.

Right-hander Austin Voth (3-1, 4.86 ERA), a huge waiver pickup from the Nationals, will make his 11^th O’s start today. For the Orioles only, he is 3-1 with a 2.81 ERA, and the Orioles are 7-3 in his starts.

Voth has allowed two earned runs or fewer eight times in his Orioles starts and is coming off a six-inning outing, his longest of the season. He pitched six scoreless last Wednesday at Rogers Centre, allowing just two hits on 86 pitches.

Over his last four starts – two of which were scoreless – his ERA is 2.11. He has allowed five earned runs in 21 1/3 innings in that span with a batting average against of .190 and a .536 opponent OPS.

Chicago lost at Kansas City 6-4 Monday and the White Sox are 1-4 their past five games. Over a longer run, they are 21-15 the last 36 games. Chicago is 32-29 on the road, 16-14 in the second half and 14-15 against AL East teams.

José Abreu had three hits Monday and brings a sizzling bat to Baltimore. He is batting .548 (17-for-31) over his past nine games, with seven multi-hit games.

Chicago right-hander Dylan Cease (12-5, 2.09 ERA), who beat the Orioles on June 26, will make his 25^th start. In that June game he allowed one run and four hits over seven innings with a season-high 13 strikeouts on 101 pitches.

Cease gave up three runs over five innings to Houston in his last start, facing Justin Verlander in a game Chicago won. But in the 14 starts before that one, he gave up no more than one earned run each time. The 14 consecutive starts allowing one earned run or zero, from May 29 to Aug. 11, set a major league record. In eight of those games he did not give up a single earned run.

So over his past 15 starts, Cease is 8-3 with an ERA of 0.93, allowing just nine earned runs. In 87 innings he walked 39 and fanned 107 with a .549 OPS against. Cease was the American League Pitcher of the Month for both June and July.

The guy has just had a remarkable season, and the Sox are 18-6 in his starts and 6-1 in his last seven outings. In 11 road games, he has been outstanding, going 7-2 with a 1.34 ERA. In three career games versus the Orioles he is 2-0 with a 2.00 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 18 innings.  

Best FanGraphs WAR among AL rookies:

3.6 - Adley Rutschman, Orioles

3.5 - Julio Rodríguez, Seattle

3.3 - Spencer Strider, Atlanta

3.1 - Michael Harris II, Atlanta

2.9 - Steven Kwan, Cleveland