O's game blog: O's look to split this series and season series with Nats

The Orioles and Nationals will meet for the fourth and final time this year tonight at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. After losing to the Nats 9-3 last night, the O's are 0-1 in this two-game series and 1-2 in the four-game season series.

A win tonight will split this series and the four-game season set. The Orioles have not lost a season series to the Nationals since 2018.

These teams have been playing since 2006 and the Orioles are 56-41 all-time versus the Nats and 10-2-6 in season series.

The Orioles lost the 2018 season series, going 1-5. Then they went 2-2 in 2019, 4-2 in 2020, 3-3 in 2021, 3-1 in 2022 and 4-0 last season leading up to this year.

Even with last night's loss, the Orioles have won eight of their last 10 versus the Nats and manager Brandon Hyde is 17-10 against them.

The Orioles begin play today in second place, a half-game behind the Yankees with New York at 71-50 and Baltimore at 70-50. Baltimore's .583 win percentage ranks third in the American League and fourth-best in the majors. A team playing at that win percentage over the full year would win 94 games.

But on June 12, the Orioles were 45-22. Since then, they are 25-28 over a 53-game stretch. In those 53 games, their offense has been solid, scoring 4.9 runs per game. But the O's pitching has a team ERA of 5.03 in that span.

Since June 13, the O's rank 27th in the majors in team ERA. One of three teams worse than the Orioles is the Yankees with an ERA of 5.16 in this span.

As they try to get it pointed in a better direction tonight, right-hander Dean Kremer (4-9, 4.70 ERA) takes the mound. He has allowed nine runs in 9 1/3 innings his past two games. Kremer has a 6.14 ERA and .792 OPS against in his last six games. The O's are 6-10 in his starts.

Lefty batters have a .764 OPS off Kremer while right-handers have a .633 OPS against him. But he allows an OPS of .831 when pitching with runners in scoring position.

The Nats starter is lefty DJ Herz (2-4, 4.41 ERA) who is making his 12th start. For the year over 49 innings, he has allowed 49 hits with 17 walks, 63 strikeouts and a 1.347 WHIP.

Originally drafted by the Cubs in the eight round in 2019, the Nats are 4-7 in his starts this year, going 1-6 in the last seven. 

In three road starts, he is 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA and 1.583 WHIP. 

Anthony Santander launched his 36th home run of the season Tuesday, setting the single-season team record for homers by a switch-hitter. The homer came on a 3-0 count, the fifth such homer of his career, which is tied for fourth-most among active players.

Ryan O'Hearn collected his 399th and 400th career hits after connecting on two singles yesterday. He now has a hit against all 30 major league clubs after recording his first two career hits against Washington. Adley Rutschman has hit safely in seven of his last nine games, going 11-for-29 during that stretch after going 4-for-36 in his previous 10 games.