O's game blog: Series begins at Philadelphia

If the Orioles thought playing an interleague series this late in the season would provide an opponent just playing out the string - well, that was not an accurate thought.

Tonight, the Orioles begin a three-game series at Philadelphia and the Phillies desperately need wins. Philadelphia (76-73) began play Sunday just one game behind Atlanta for the National League East lead. But they lost 3-2 to the Mets while the Braves (77-70) blanked San Francisco 3-0. So the Phillies begin this series two games out in the NL East with 13 to play. The Phillies are also in the hunt for the second NL wild card spot. That is held by St. Louis, which is three games ahead of Cincinnati and 3 1/2 up on the Phillies and San Diego.

So two chances to get in the postseason, but time is running out and the Phillies have to win. The loss Sunday ended a four-game winning streak and they are 7-9 since Sept. 3. The Phillies are 42-32 at home and 6-11 in games versus the American League.

The Orioles (47-102) are coming off being swept three in a row in Boston. They lost 8-6 on Sunday. Trey Mancini's three-run double to left in the top of the seventh provided the O's a 6-5 lead, but Boston scored three times in the home half to pull out the win and sweep.

The Orioles allowed 24 runs in that series and have given up 81 runs over the last nine games, allowing seven or more seven times in this span.

The Orioles are 4-12 against Boston with three games to play in the season series. They are 3-6 at Fenway Park. Since sweepting three games from Boston to begin the season, the Orioles have gone 1-12 versus the Red Sox. Boston improved to 86-65 with its fifth win in a row.

On the mound tonight for the Orioles will be left-hander John Means (5-7, 3.41 ERA). He will be making his 24th start and has allowed exactly two earned runs in four consecutive games. In that span, Means has an ERA of 3.00, allowing a .198 average against and .596 OPS.

A case could be made that Means is having his best season. Combining his 2019-2020 years, Means posted an ERA of 3.81 with a FIP of 4.67 and his ERA+ was 124, so 24 percent above league average. This year, his ERA is 3.41 with a 4.59 FIP and his ERA+ of 136 is 36 percent better than the league.

Means is also better this year in WHIP (1.000 compared to 1.102) and hits per nine (7.3 to 7.9). His walk rate improved from 2.0 to 1.7 and his strikeout rate from 7.4 to 8.0.

Despite Means having a solid year and pitching well lately, the Orioles are 7-16 in his starts and have lost eight in a row since he and the team both got wins on July 31. That shows that a lot of what can happen in a game - from the offense and fielding to the bullpen performance - is out of the control of the starting pitcher even if it greatly impacts his won-loss record.

Means is 1-4 with a 4.32 ERA and 1.220 WHIP in 10 interleague starts. He has never faced Philadelphia.

The Phillies starter is 26-year-old right-hander Ranger Suárez (6-4, 1.50 ERA), who will be making his 37th appearance and 10th as a starter. The Phillies are 5-4 in his previous starts.

The O's have faced a steady diet of good pitching lately, and this guy is not a big name, but he has big stats.

For the year over 84 innings, he has allowed 56 hits and just four homers with 31 walks and 86 strikeouts. His WHIP is 1.036, his hits per nine is 6.0 and homer rate is 0.4. Lefty batters have hit just .106 with an OPS of .321 against him and right-handers bat .220/.621.

Suárez is 1-0 with a 1.55 ERA, allowing two earned runs or less in five straight starts, and in four of them, he gave up zero or one earned run. In that span, he has walked seven and fanned 33 in 29 innings, allowing just one homer. In 20 home games, he is 5-0 with a 1.60 ERA and 0.928 WHIP. He has given up just two homers in 50 2/3 innings at Citizens Bank Park.

The 2015 NL MVP, Bryce Harper, carries a 1.052 OPS into play tonight, which leads the majors ahead of Toronto's Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at 1.029. And he leads all NL position players in WAR (per FanGraphs.com) at 6.3. That would be the highest single-season WAR by a Phillies position player since Chase Utley posted an 8.2 WAR in back-to-back seasons in 2008-09. Harper had a 14-game hitting streak end yesterday, is slashing .352/.484/.754 in 258 plate appearances following the All-Star break, and his .754 SLG and 1.238 OPS lead the majors in the second half.

The Orioles begin their final interleague series of the season tonight. The O's have gone 6-11 in interleague play this season and 1-6 on the road; their lone road win came in their first Interleague game on April 20 at Miami. Orioles pitchers have gone 0-for-13 with one sacrifice bunt and eight strikeouts in 14 plate appearances this season. The last O's pitcher to record a hit was Means on July 24, 2019 at Arizona.