O's game blog: Orioles looking for a series win in Kansas City

KANSAS CITY - The Orioles have won four of their five series this year. Today, they have a chance to add another series victory if they can beat the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium.

The teams have exchanged wins this weekend. Mike Moustakas homered and drove in three runs on Friday as K.C. beat the Birds 4-2. Last night, the Orioles recorded a season-high 14 hits, Mark Trumbo drove in four runs and their bullpen put up four scoreless innings in an 8-3 win.

On the mound this afternoon, right-hander Mike Wright (1-1, 5.73 ERA) makes his third start of this season and the 12th of his major league career. He faces right-hander Yordano Ventura (1-0, 2.81 ERA). Between these two hard-throwing pitchers, the radar gun should get a workout today.

Some felt Wright took a bit of a step forward during his last start Tuesday against Toronto. He went six innings, allowing six hits and three runs. Toronto took a 3-0 lead on him by the third inning, then he put up zeroes in the fourth, fifth and sixth, throwing 105 pitches.

"Yeah, definitely something to build on," Wright said after that game. "A quality start against the Blue Jays was something I really needed after last year facing them (and pitching to a 9.45 ERA). I felt decent out there. We ended up losing but felt like I gave our team a chance to win."

Catcher Matt Wieters seemed to call more off-speed pitches early in that game and Wright had a real good pitch mix going and was not just trying to throw fastballs by the hitters.

"He made some pitches when he needed to," Wieters said. "It was big for him. He's able to get through some games without his best stuff and that is big for him to take the next step forward. He really had to pitch tonight."

If Wright took a step forward against a good Toronto lineup, can he carry that over today on the road against the defending World Series champs?

Ventura has allowed two runs or less in each of his starts. He has walked a high total of 12 batters with 17 strikeouts over 16 innings. But left-handed batters are hitting just .158 off him in 2016 and right-handed batters are hitting .220.

Ventura went 2-0 with a 3.09 ERA in two starts last season against Baltimore. In his career, he has made four starts versus the Orioles, going 3-1 with a 2.08 ERA. He has averaged 11.4 strikeouts per nine innings in those starts with 33 strikeouts over 26 innings.