O's game blog: Orioles look to even series in Toronto

TORONTO – After a blowout loss on Monday night, the Orioles look to even their series against the Toronto Blue Jays tonight at Rogers Centre. It’s the second of a four-game series.

Toronto (36-24) outhit the Orioles 19-5 in the series opener and bashed six extra-base hits in the win. The Blue Jays went 14-5 against Baltimore in 2021, including an 8-2 mark at home, and last night was the first meeting this season between the clubs. Toronto has beaten the Orioles seven straight games dating to last year.

The Orioles' up-and-down nature shows an 8-1 loss on Friday at Kansas City and an 11-1 loss last night. But they won back-to-back games versus the Royals in between those defeats, scoring 16 runs.

Toronto right-hander Alek Manoah, the American League ERA leader, shut out Baltimore on one hit through six innings. But in the seventh, against reliever Julian Merryweather, Adley Rutschman produced an infield hit with one out and then scored on Kyle Stowers’ double to left-center, which was his first major league hit and RBI. Stowers went 1-for-3 and was hit by a pitch in the last inning.

The Orioles (26-36) are 4-4 over the last eight games and 12-12 over their past 24. They are 11-21 on the road, but 5-6 over the last 11 and 2-3 on this eight-game trip. The Orioles went 7-14 in April and 14-16 in May, and are 5-6 this month.

Toronto is in second place in the AL East, one game ahead of Tampa Bay, but they are eight games behind division-leading New York. They have the third-best record in the AL and have won five of seven and 14 of 18 games. Since the Blue Jays were just a game over .500 on May 15, they are 18-7.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went 3-for-5 with a solo homer and three RBI’s in Monday’s win. His eighth-inning shot went 432-feet and was his 12^th homer of the year of 400 feet or more. And he continues to torment Baltimore pitchers. He hit 12 homers off the O’s last season, the most by any player that year against any team. For his career in 46 games versus Baltimore, he has hit 17 homers with 44 RBIs.

The Orioles bullpen has had a rare run of back-to-back poor games and has allowed 11 runs in 7 2/3 innings combined on Sunday and Monday.

On the mound tonight is right-hander Jordan Lyles (3-5, 4.97 ERA), who is looking to reverse a recent slide. Lyles has made 12 starts for his new team and his ERA was 4.10 after his first nine. But in his past three he has given up 13 earned runs and 26 hits over 14 1/3 innings as opponents have batted .394 with an OPS of 1.051 against him. He allowed a season-high-tying six runs in five innings on Thursday against Kansas City.

While Lyles is 1-1 with a 2.93 ERA in five home starts, he is 2-4 with a 6.69 ERA on the road. He has not allowed a homer in 30 2/3 innings at Camden Yards, but has given up nine over 36 1/3 away from Baltimore.

The Orioles are 4-8 in Lyles’ outings. He has thrown 90 pitches or more nine times and 100 or more three times.

Lefty Yusei Kikuchi (2-2, 4.44 ERA) will make his 12^th start for Toronto. On the year, he has given up 41 hits in 46 2/3 innings with 28 walks and 52 strikeouts. He has a 1.479 WHIP with a 5.4 walk rate and 10.0 strikeout rate.

Kikuchi got just two outs in his last outing, on Wednesday versus Kansas City, yielding two hits and three runs with four walks on 45 pitches. In the game before that, he gave up four runs and seven hits in 4 2/3.

The Blue Jays are just 3-8 in his games, and he is 2-1 with a 4.18 ERA and 1.141 WHIP at home. He has thrown six innings or more just twice this year and has only two quality starts.