O's game blog: Orioles are 7-19 at Oakland since 2008

As the Orioles begin a three-city, nine-game West Coast road trip tonight, they do so with a chance to tie for the second American League wild card spot with a win.

Toronto beat Minnesota 5-1 this afternoon as David Price allowed three hits and one run over eight innings. The Twins are 54-51 and the Blue Jays are 55-52. The Orioles would be 54-51 with a win.

The Orioles have won seven of their last nine games to improve to 53-51. But tonight they look to begin to improve on a 21-31 road record. The Orioles have often not played well at Oakland. They are 7-19 there since the 2008 season and have lost 35-of-49 at Oakland.

Oakland begins this series with a record of 47-59, tied with Boston for the worst in the AL. But the A's have the best pitching in the league with a 3.40 team ERA. The Orioles rank sixth at 3.75.

Oakland's starting pitchers rank first in the AL with a 3.08 ERA. The Orioles are 10th at 4.26. Over their last six games, Oakland starters have pitched to an ERA of 1.71. The last time A's starters finished a season with an ERA under 3.16 was in 1974 (2.98).

The A's just split a four-game series with Cleveland, winning the last two games, and allowed just seven runs in that series. Over a longer stretch, Oakland has lost seven of its last 10 games.

The A's are batting .224 with 98 runs scored over the last 31 games (3.16 runs per game), which dates back to June 26. The A's have scored two runs or fewer in 16 of those contests.

How important will defense be in this series? We'll find out, but the Orioles have made the fewest errors in the majors with 41 while Oakland has made the most with 91. That is 10 more than any other AL team.

On the mound tonight, right-hander Tyler Wilson (1-1, 2.12 ERA) gets the start for the Orioles against right-hander Jesse Chavez (5-10, 3.53 ERA).

Wilson has made five major league appearances this year and one start. He pitched well but took a 3-2 loss against the Chicago White Sox on May 28. He went six innings, allowing five hits and two runs and throwing 86 pitches. He left the game with the Orioles behind 2-0.

In 17 big league innings, Wilson has allowed 18 hits and four runs with three walks and four strikeouts. Left-handed batters have hit .297 and right-handed batters .269 against him. Opponents are just 2-for-18 (.111) when facing him with runners in scoring position.

Chavez went 1-3 with an ERA of 5.33 and .308 average against in five July starts. In April and May, he pitched to an ERA of 2.11, but since June 1, he is 3-5 with a 5.07 ERA.