O's game blog: O's look for fourth straight quality start today with Chen on mound

Now that the Orioles have three quality starts in a row, why not shoot for four? The O's three starters in the Houston series - Ubaldo Jimenez, Miguel Gonzalez and Chris Tillman - have pitched to an ERA of 1.86, allowing four runs over 19 1/3 innings. The Orioles have not had four consecutive quality starts all year. They had three in a row once before, from April 9-12. In 25 innings in this series, O's pitchers have given up just six runs and 15 hits with eight walks and 20 strikeouts. Of course, scoring just one run twice led to two losses even with that solid pitching. Wei-Yin Chen (5-2, 4.50 ERA) makes his 11th start today. He has given up 10 runs over 11 2/3 innings in his last two starts after pitching to an ERA of 2.59 his previous four games. Scott Feldman (3-2, 3.02) faces his former teammates this afternoon, making the start for the Astros. Feldman went 2-1 with a 1.69 ERA in four April starts but is 1-1 with a 4.71 ERA in four starts in May. A look at the Orioles in the first two months: O's in April - .266 avg., .716 OPS, 16 HRs, 4.6 runs per game, 4.64 ERA. O's in May - .260 avg., .722 OPS, 37 HRs, 3.9 runs per game, 4.00 ERA. The Orioles went 1-0 in March, 11-12 in April and 15-15 in May. The Birds have scored nine runs over their last four games after scoring 55 runs the previous nine games. The Orioles can do no better than split this four-game series with a win today. This will be the sixth straight series they have not won. Since taking two of three from Houston May 9-11, they went 0-3 against Detroit, 2-2 versus Kansas City, 1-1 against Pittsburgh, 2-2 against Cleveland, 1-2 versus Milwaukee and now 1-2 against Houston. They won eight of their first 10 games in May but are 7-13 since.