O's game blog: O's need a win to avoid being swept in three straight

The Orioles have lost by 8-6 and 2-0 scores to the Chicago White Sox this weekend at Oriole Park. They need a victory today over the White Sox or Chicago will have its first three-game sweep at Baltimore in more than 20 years.

Chicago's last three-game sweep in Baltimore from was from Aug. 31-Sept. 2, 1998. Since then, the White Sox have swept a four-game series in Baltimore and that was from July 29-Aug. 1, 2005.

With a loss today, the Orioles (42-106) will equal the club record for losses in a season, set in 1988. The 2018 Birds have lost eight of nine, 12 of 14, 20 of 25 and 27 of the last 34 games.

The Orioles fell to 2-4 against the White Sox and 9-23 against the AL Central Saturday. They are now 25-48 at home. Baltimore was shut out last night for the second time in four games and 14th time on the season.

The Orioles have been held to two runs or less seven times in the past 12 games, scoring 32 runs. They've been held to one run or less four times in that span. They are 1-for-11 in this series when batting with runners in scoring position.

Right-hander David Hess (3-10, 5.17 ERA) will pitch on seven days' rest since his last start. He gave up six runs (two earned) in five innings Sept. 8 at Tampa Bay. Hess has allowed 16 hits and 11 runs (six earned) in nine innings over his last two starts. In the two starts before that, he gave up one run over 13 innings in back-to-back games versus Toronto. Hess has seven quality starts and the Orioles are 3-13 in his 16 starts.

Right-hander Lucas Giolito (10-10, 5.76 ERA) will make his 30th start for the White Sox. While Giolito has struggled much of this year, he's now recorded five quality starts over his past six games, pitching to an ERA of 4.01 in this stretch.

Giolito has allowed 4.6 walks per nine innings this year with 6.6 strikeouts and 1.4 homers per nine. He has allowed an ERA of 7.45 in the first inning of his starts and 9.11 in the second inning.

He has faced the Orioles just once in his career. That was this year on May 24 and he had a terrible game. Over 1 1/3 innings, he gave up seven hits and six runs. He walked three that day and allowed homers to Trey Mancini and Adam Jones in an outing that tied for his shortest of the season.

Catcher Caleb Joseph threw runners out stealing last night in the third, sixth and eighth innings. He set a career high with three caught stealings. His previous high was two, done eight times. Joseph has caught 19-of-55 (34.5% percent) would-be base stealers in 2018 for the Orioles.