O's game blog: Orioles open 10-game homestand vs. Oakland

After completing a 4-2 road trip with series wins at Houston and Cleveland against first-place teams, tonight the Orioles begin a home series with the club with the worst record in the American League. They host Oakland (49-83) for the first of a three-game series and 10-game homestand that later includes four games with Toronto and three with Boston.

The Orioles are 37-24 (.607) at Oriole Park, where they now play the next 10 and 17 of the next 22 games. They have 20 of their remaining 32 games at home. They have the fourth-best home winning percentage in the American League. 

The Orioles (69-61) begin tonight 1 1/2 games behind Toronto for the third and final AL wild card spot. They are 3 1/2 games back of the second wild card and four games behind the first wild card berth in the league. The Orioles have won seven of 10, 10 of 15, 22 of 35 and 39 of the last 61 games.

In winning four of six games on the road trip, O’s pitching allowed just nine runs and O’s batters scored just 14. The club has pitched back-to-back shutouts, had three in six games on the trip and has 13 on the year. The Orioles take a 21-inning scoreless streak into this Oakland series. The O’s team ERA on the road trip was 1.56. O’s pitching has allowed just 27 runs the last 11 games, yielding three or fewer in eight of those 11. The Baltimore bullpen threw 7 2/3 scoreless innings the past three days.

O’s starting pitchers have seven quality starts the past eight games, with an ERA of 1.70 in that span. They have allowed two earned runs or fewer nine times the last 10 games, pitching to a 1.83 ERA of in that span. Last night, Kyle Bradish became the first Oriole ever to record consecutive scoreless starts while throwing seven innings or more and allowing two hits or fewer.

The Orioles have twice this year recorded two straight shutouts. They did that June 22 versus Washington and June 23 against the Chicago White Sox, in addition to the last two games against Cleveland. They have two straight shutouts twice in the same year for the first time since 2012.

The last time the Orioles recorded three straight shutouts was in 1995, when they tied a franchise record with five straight. With 13 shutouts, the O's are tied for third-most in the AL and fourth-most in the majors. The 13 shutouts are their most since they also had 13 in 2014; they had 11 total shutouts in 384 games from 2019-21. The last time the Orioles had at least 14 shutouts in a season was 1992, when they tallied 16; the single-season franchise record is 21 shutouts in 1961.

Against Oakland, right-hander Dean Kremer (6-4, 3.24 ERA) will try to keep that roll going tonight. He has thrown 83 1/3 innings, allowing 84 hits with 1.224 WHIP, a 1.9 walk rate and 6.7 strikeout rate. The O’s are 10-5 in his 15 starts.

Kremer has allowed just four earned runs his past three starts, posting a 1.80 ERA, and twice in that span has thrown seven innings or more. His ERA is 2.25 his past five starts, and he has walked four and fanned 21 in 32 innings while allowing a .596 OPS.

Orioles starters are suddenly pitching deeper into games. In the season’s first 123 games, they got just seven starts of seven innings or more. Now they have four such starts in the last seven games. 

Oakland's starter is lefty JP Sears (5-1, 2.28 ERA), a pitcher they acquired in the Aug. 1 trade of Frankie Montas to the New York Yankees. On Aug. 10, Sears was promoted from Oakland's Triple-A team to the big league squad. For Oakland only in four starts, he is 2-1 with a 2.53 ERA, and the A's are 2-2 in those games. He is 2-0 with an ERA of 0.00 in six career innings against the Orioles.