O's game blog: Road trip continues at Houston

After losing three of four games in Buffalo against the Toronto Blue Jays, the Orioles have arrived at the second stop on a three-city, 10-game trip. They play at Houston tonight to start a three-game series against the first-place Astros.

The Orioles (24-54) beat the Blue Jays Friday night, 6-5 in 10 innings, but lost 12-4 and 5-2 the last two days. They started the season by winning 11 of 17 on the road, but are now 1-22 in the last 23 road contests. That makes them 12-28 for the year in road games.

The Orioles have lost eight of nine and 16 of 18 games overall.

When Ryan Mountcastle homered in the first inning on Sunday that ended a drought of five straight games without a homer for the Orioles - their longest dry spell of the year minus a longball. They have hit 85 homers on the year to rank 19th in the majors.

Houston (48-30) is playing .615 ball and that is the best record in the American League and second in the majors, behind only San Francisco (50-27), which is playing .649 baseball. At Camden Yards last week, Houston swept three from the Orioles by scores of 10-2, 3-1 and 13-0. Houston's offense put up 26 runs, 38 hits and six homers in that series.

Houston left Baltimore and then split four games during a series at Detroit. They saw an 11-game win streak snapped in Game 1 of a Saturday doubleheader. During the streak, Houston outscored its opponents 93-24. Houston has won 12 of 14, 16 of 20 and 21 of 27. They are 41-20 since April 22.

The Astros have gone 10-1 in their last 11 home games, which includes a perfect 6-0 homestand their last time in Houston, June 15-20. The club's 26-13 (.667) home record is tied for the best in the AL, along with the White Sox (28-14, .667).

Houston's offense is the best in the majors. The Astros lead the big leagues in runs scored (442), hits (748), batting average (.278), OBP (.350), SLG (.453) and OPS (.803), and rank second in doubles (152) and sixth in home runs (103). They average 5.67 runs per game.

Mountcastle is making a strong bid to be the AL Rookie of the Month for June. He has hit safely in 17 of 23 games this month, with nine multi-hit efforts. He leads AL rookies in hits (30), home runs (eight), RBIs (21), extra-base hits (11), total bases (57), batting average (.341), slugging (.648), and OPS (1.037) this month. His 42 RBIs this season are the second-most on the O's.

Mountcastle has drawn a walk in four straight games for the first time in the majors. He has a total of five walks in those four games after drawing just one walk in the previous 24 games.

Right-hander Thomas Eshelman (0-1, 7.27 ERA), who became the 25th to pitch for the Orioles this season on June 18, will make his third start tonight. His first went quite well when he allowed one run over 4 2/3 innings against Toronto. But this Houston club got to him last week when he allowed eight hits and six runs over four innings. Carolos Correa had a two-run double and Jose Altuve blasted a two-run homer.

Right-hander Zack Greinke (8-2, 3.56 ERA) gets the call for Houston. He has a WHIP of 1.115 and allows just 1.8 walks per nine innings. Houston is 12-4 in his starts and he is 3-0 with an ERA of 3.24 this month. Grienke and Houston beat the Orioles on Tuesday when he gave up five hits and one run over 7 1/3 innings.

Greinke ranks 15th in the AL in ERA and 12th in WHIP. He is third in innings with 98 2/3. He has been a big-time innings eater, throwing seven innings or more eight times on the season, including in five of his past eight games.

Farm notes: It's an off-day for the Orioles four full-season minor league affiliates. But their two clubs in the Rookie-level Florida Complex League played season openers today. I posted the rosters for those teams earlier in this entry.

The O's Black team beat the Twins 6-1 today. Coby Mayo, their 2020 fourth-round draft pick, went 1-for-3 with a double. First baseman Josue Cruz was 2-for-2 with two runs and a solo homer to center field. Stiven Acevedo went 2-for-3 with an RBI single. Outfielder Luis Gonzalez, signed for $475,000 on July 2, 2019, went 2-for-3 with a run and RBI double. Right-hander Jean Pinto, 20, from Venezuela, was the starting pitcher and allowed one run over four innings. The game was shortened to six innings by rain.

The O's Orange team lost 9-0 to Pittsburgh. Moises Ramirez went 1-for-3 with a walk, but the club was held to six hits.

Double-A Bowie has won its last two games and is now 29-17 following a seven-game losing streak. The Baysox continue to lead their league in on-base percentage (.350) and walks. They have drawn 224 walks, while no other team has more than 182. Bowie's bullpen has an ERA of just 5.36, but its starting pitchers lead the league with a rotation ERA of 2.93.

Triple-A Norfolk is 17-11 after a 3-14 start.

A lot of credit has been given to low Single-A Delmarva hitters this year - and the Shorebirds do lead their league in runs scored and team OPS - but the pitching has been solid as well, as the team is 30-16 and was the first O's farm club to 30 wins. Delmarva's staff ranks second overall in ERA at 3.19 and the Shorebirds are second in pitching in the league in both rotation (3.50) and bullpen (3.00) ERA.