O's game blog: Orioles look for series win at Tropicana Field

Here is an impressive stat for the Orioles: They are 4-2-1 in seven series this year and, with a win today, they would be 5-2-1. What makes that impressive is that they are only 2-6 in series-opening games.

Yes, that all does count the game Wednesday against Chicago as both a one-game series and, of course, a series-opening win.

The Orioles have won three-game series this year against both the Red Sox and Yankees by winning the last two games after a loss in the first game. They try to do that today against the Rays.

Hard to win series when losing the first game, and they don't want to make a habit of trying to do that, for sure.

Miguel Gonzalez provided the O's rotation with its fifth straight quality start last night. That is after they started the season with just four quality starts in the first 17 games. The rotation has an ERA of 1.73 in the five games. It is even better over the last three games, in which the O's have gotten three consecutive outings of at least seven innings. The three-game ERA of the starters is 0.83, with two earned runs allowed the last 21 2/3 innings.

The Orioles have not allowed a homer over the last three games after giving up 14 in the previous six contests.

Coming off his best start this year, Wei-Yin Chen (0-1, 2.78 ERA) makes the start this afternoon at the Trop against 27-year-old right-hander Nathan Karns (1-1, 4.76 ERA).

On April 25, Chen went eight innings, giving up just four hits and two runs on 108 pitches versus Boston. He is 3-4 with a 3.42 ERA in 14 career starts against Tampa. Chen has allowed an average of just .063 this year (1-for-16) when pitching with runners in scoring position.

Karns took the loss to Chen and the Orioles on April 7 at Camden Yards when he gave up five hits and six runs over 5 2/3 innings.

The O's need to force him to throw strikes today. He walked four batters in that earlier game and has walked 16 in 28 1/3 this year. He has averaged 4.5 walks per nine innings over his 10 career big league starts, in which he is 2-3 with a 5.33 ERA.

A look at some O's hitters recently:

* In his last six games, Chris Davis is 7-for-21 (.333) with three homers and 10 RBIs. He has at least one RBI in five of his past six games.

* Over his last 13 games, Caleb Joseph is 16-for-42 (.381) with two homers and seven RBIs.

* In his last 11 games, Manny Machado is 14-for-39 (.359) with three homers, eight RBIs and five multi-hit games.

* Since a slow start, Steve Pearce has gone 3-for-10 (.300) with five RBIs his last three games. He began the year going 0-for-9 when batting with runners in scoring position, but is 3-for-4 with RISP since then.

Clutch hitting: Over their last four games, the Orioles are batting .514 (18-for-35) with RISP. That includes Friday's loss when they didn't have a single at-bat with a RISP.