O's game blog: Orioles and Dodgers play series-deciding game

LOS ANGELES – With one uplifting win followed by a disappointing loss for the Orioles in this series, the Birds and Dodgers play the rubber match game tonight at Dodger Stadium.

The first two games featured big and loud crowds as the clubs have seen 105,672 fans this series.

The Orioles (77-57) could have tied for first place in the American League East but lost 6-4 last night. They have lost two of three, four of seven and seven of the last 12 games. They are 8-12 all-time versus the Dodgers and 3-5 at Dodger Stadium, where the Orioles won the first two games of the 1966 World Series.

In Game 2 of that World Series, current O’s broadcaster Jim Palmer pitched a four-hitter in a 6-0 victory where he got the win and Sandy Koufax took the loss. Palmer was just 20 and Koufax had posted an ERA of 1.73 during the season. That turned out to be the last game for Koufax, who retired following the World Series.

But back to present day ...

The Orioles are 8-4 in rubber match games. They are 23-12-7 in series this year and 11-6-3 in road series.

With last night’s result, seven of the last 10 Orioles games have been decided by one or two runs and they are 4-3 in those.

The Baltimore offense has produced just 13 runs the last four games and 40 in the past 11 games. They have scored five runs or more just twice in those 11 games with a team batting average of .178 and a .577 OPS in this span, averaging 3.6 runs per game.

In those 11 games, the O’s are 8-for-55 (.145) batting with runners in scoring position.

Even though Corbin Burnes allowed six runs last night, the Baltimore bullpen put up three more zeros. The O’s ‘pen has thrown scoreless ball five times in the last six games with an ERA of 0.84.

Burnes was asked about the AL East race after his outing.

“We’re kind of at the point in the year when, everyone knows it’s a long season now," he said. "We’ve got some young guys who have been up here all year who are starting to wear it a little bit, which is what happens in a 162-game season.

"It’s a long season, and I think we’re showing signs of being able to kind of come out of the funk that we’re in. Last couple of games have been really good. Obviously, took a step back tonight. But I think the last week has been better, but I think we still definitely have some better baseball to play, and I think we’re close. I think we’re close to where we want to be.”

And to back up Burnes' point, should the O's win tonight, they will complete a stretch against the Astros and Dodgers going 4-3 against those first-place clubs.

On his bobblehead night Wednesday, Shohei Ohtani hit a leadoff homer and went 2-for-4 with three runs scored. In the fifth inning, he scored his 104^th run of the season, a career high. With his two stolen bases, he now has 42 for the year and 14 in the month of August, the third-most stolen bases by any Dodgers player in a single month without being caught. This was Ohtani’s third game in 2024 with a home run and multiple stolen bases. There are only two players with more in a season: Rickey Henderson (1986, five) and Eric Davis (1987, four), according to Sarah Langs of MLB.com.

Lefty Cade Povich (1-6, 6.10 ERA) gets the start tonight. In two August games, he allowed two runs over 6 1/3 innings versus Boston and then gave up five runs in five innings against Houston. In his lone start this season versus a National League team, he pitched six scoreless against Atlanta on June 12. When Povich walks two or less, his ERA is 3.86.

Righty Bobby Miller (1-3, 7.49 ERA) will make his 10th start and face an O's club that once drafted him. The O's selected Miller in the 38th round of the 2017 draft, but he did not sign. Three years later, the Dodgers made him a first-round pick at No. 29 overall out of the University of Louisville. He has spent time this year on the injured list with right shoulder inflammation. In two starts this month, he's allowed seven runs and 15 hits in 10 2/3 innings.