O's game blog: Orioles look for 5-5 road trip in finale at SF

The Orioles' 10-game, three-city road trip ends this afternoon when they face the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park. They have gone 2-1 at Chicago, 1-3 at Oakland and 1-1 at San Francisco on this trip.

In their four wins, they have hit .325 with 11 homers and 19 extra-base hits and have scored 7.8 runs per game. In the five losses, they have batted .175 with two home runs and eight extra-base hits and have mustered just 1.4 runs per game.

The Orioles have scored seven runs on 15 hits in the two games in San Francisco, with five doubles, two homers and a 5-for-14 mark (.357) with runners in scoring position.

On the mound this afternoon is left-hander Wade Miley (7-10, 4.98 ERA), who makes his 22nd start of the season. He is facing right-hander Johnny Cueto (13-3, 2.93), who will be making his 24th start.

Miley went five innings and allowed four runs on Aug. 4 versus Texas in his Orioles' debut. On Tuesday at Oakland he pitched six innings, allowing six hits and two runs. He is 0-2 with a 4.91 ERA with the Orioles.

Over his last five games between the Mariners and the Orioles, Miley has recorded four quality starts and has pitched to an ERA of 3.56. Over 30 1/3 innings, he has allowed 25 hits with nine walks, 24 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.12.

Lefty batters have hit .250 off Miley this season, while right-handed batters are hitting .285. He is 4-5 with a 4.84 ERA in 12 road starts. The Mariners went 10-9 in his 19 starts, while the Orioles have gone 0-2 in his first two outings with the team.

Cueto has had a strong season, but is 0-1 with a 6.11 ERA his last three starts. He is winless over his last five starts since beating Colorado on July 6. Cueto signed a six-year deal worth $130 million with the Giants in December.

Over 23 starts, he has four complete games with a 1.075 WHIP, 0.7 homers allowed per nine innings, a walk rate of 1.8 and strikeout rate of 8.2 per nine. All are very strong numbers and San Francisco has record of 18-5 in his 23 starts.

Cueto finished fourth in 2012 National League Cy Young voting, when he went 19-9 with an ERA of 2.78 for the Reds. He was second in 2014, when he went 20-9 with an ERA of 2.25 and pitched 244 innings for Cincinnati.

This season, Cueto has thrown seven or more innings 14 times and has recorded 15 quality starts in his 23 games.

Last year, pitching for Kansas City, Cueto faced the Orioles twice and went 0-2 with an ERA of 10.32. He gave up 14 runs (13 earned) on 19 hits, allowing seven home runs in 11 1/3 innings. Jonathan Schoop is 4-for-5 with three homers against Cueto in his career and Chris Davis is 4-for-7 with two homers.

On the farm last night, Single-A Delmarva's Randolph Gassaway went 4-for-5 with two homers and five RBIs in the Shorebirds' 7-1 win at West Virginia. In 35 games with Delmarva, he is batting .344 with four homers, 11 RBIs and a .897 OPS. In 13 games this month, Gassaway is batting .420 with an OPS of 1.233.