O's game blog: O's play series, road trip finale at Seattle

The Orioles have a chance to do something today they haven't done yet on this long West Coast trip ending today - win a series.

They went 1-2 at Anaheim against the Angels and 2-2 in Oakland versus the A's. The O's and Mariners have split the first two games of this series with the Orioles winning 11-3 Monday night and losing 3-1 last night.

Right-hander Ubaldo Jiménez (5-7, 6.25 ERA) makes his 25th appearance, 20th as a starter, this afternoon. Jiménez has pitched better lately and is 1-1 with an ERA of 2.63 over his past four starts. In 24 innings he has given up 23 hits and seven runs with eight walks and 32 strikeouts.

In his most recent start on Friday at Oakland, Jiménez received a no-decision after allowing six hits and three runs with one walk and 11 strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings. Jiménez had swing and miss stuff early in that game. He fanned eight over the first three innings, getting a season-high 11 swings and misses on his first 54 pitches. He finished with 99 pitches, getting 15 total swings and misses. The 11 strikeouts is a season-high and his most as an Oriole. It is two off his career-high of 13, done twice before, most recently on Sept. 29, 2013 for Cleveland at Minnesota.

Jiménez has an 5.21 ERA in the first innings of his starts and 10.42 ERA in the second. The Orioles are 10-9 over his 19 starts.

Lefty Marco Gonzales (0-0, 6.48 ERA) gets the start today for the Mariners. He was acquired July 21 from St. Louis for a minor league outfielder. In two starts with Seattle he has pitched 8 1/3 innings, giving up 11 hits and six runs with two walks and five strikeouts.

On Aug. 6 he allowed five runs in five innings against Kansas City, and on Aug. 11 he gave up one run over 4 1/3 versus the Los Angeles Angels.

Gonzales was the No. 19 overall draft pick by St. Louis in 2013. He missed a lot of the 2015 season with shoulder issues and missed the entire 2016 season after Tommy John surgery.

He made 14 starts this year between three minor league teams and the two organizations, going 8-4 with a 3.02 ERA. Over 86 1/3 innings, Gonzales has allowed 84 hits with 22 walks, 73 strikeouts and a batting average against of .208.

Shortstop Tim Beckham went 1-for-4 on Tuesday, giving him 30 hits in 15 games since joining the Orioles. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, his 30 hits mark the most in a player's first 15 games for a team since Kenny Lofton had 31 through 15 games for Atlanta in 1997. Before Lofton, the last player with 30 hits in his first 15 games for a team was Hall of Famer Nap Lajoie, who did so in consecutive years, for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1901 (36 hits) and for the Cleveland Indians in 1902 (30 hits).