O's game blog: Shooting for a series win at Seattle

Enjoying a good road trip with three wins in four games, the Orioles look for another victory when they play at Seattle tonight in the second of a three-game series.

The Orioles were being shut out through seven innings and down 1-0 last night when they erupted for a five-run eighth and a 5-3 win. Cedric Mullins and Freddy Galvis hit two-run homers. It was No. 5 for Mullins and No. 3 for Galvis.

The Orioles can get back to the .500 mark for the first time since April 10 with a victory tonight. Since that date, when the Orioles were 4-4, they have played five times with a chance to get back to the .500 mark and have lost all five games.

Overall, they have won four of five and six of nine games, and are 9-7 in the last 16 games. They are now 10-5 in road games and 5-1 in road series opening games.

Right-hander Jorge López (1-3, 7.48 ERA) will make his sixth start. He has thrown 21 2/3 innings allowing 22 hits with a WHIP of 1.431. He has yielded 9.1 hits per nine with 3.7 walks and 8.7 strikeouts. The Orioles are 2-3 in his starts.

López has not gone past five innings yet, throwing 4 2/3 innings four times and exactly four innings three times. Each outing, he has thrown between 68 and 81 pitches. In his last start on Thursday at home against the Yankees, he gave up four hits and two runs over four innings on 79 pitches.

Right-hander Justin Dunn (1-0, 3.98 ERA) will make his fifth start and second against the Orioles. He got the win in Baltimore on April 15 in Game 2 of a doubleheader. He went five innings, giving up two hits and one run on 68 pitches.

Lefty batters have hit .182 with an OPS of .796 versus Dunn and right-handers are batting .175/.492. The Mariners are 3-1 when he gets the start.

Seattle (16-14) is tied for second place with Houston in the American League West, two games behind Oakland. The Mariners have gone 5-2-2 in their nine series and are 14-9 in their last 23 games. They are 3-2 versus the Orioles.

The Orioles are fourth in the majors in road team ERA:

3.00 - Milwaukee
3.05 - San Diego
3.13 - Los Angeles Dodgers
3.16 - Orioles
3.18 - Boston

After a three-hit game last night, Mullins leads the majors with 38 hits. He's hit safely in 22 of his 28 starts. He's batted leadoff in all of his starts, hitting .370 (10-for-27) in the first inning of these games. His 17 hits (17-for-43 - .395) against left-handed pitching are tied for the most in the majors with Jed Lowrie of Oakland. Mullins is batting .456 (26-for-57) in the Orioles' 14 wins and .211 (12-for-57) in the Orioles 15 losses.

The O's return home this weekend and will be celebrating different events at Oriole Park. The Orioles will recognize nurses during National Nurses Appreciation Week for their hard work and dedication to keep our community safe. The team has partnered with MedStar to welcome nurses to the ballpark and MedStar will have first pitches on May 7-8. The Orioles will also celebrate Negro Leagues Day in Maryland this Saturday by paying tribute to Negro Leagues teams throughout the game. All fans in attendance will receive a Baltimore Elite Giants replica cap. The Elite Giants were Baltimore's Negro Leagues team from 1920-1950.

On the farm: Some of the Orioles' top prospects have had good nights on opening night on the farm. In his Double-A debut, lefty DL Hall was dominant at times for Bowie. Over 4 1/3 scoreless innings, he gave up two hits with two walks and 10 strikeouts. His fastball topped out at 99 mph.

Right-hander Grayson Rodriguez, in his high Single-A debut for Aberdeen, threw four scoreless innings on one hit with two walks and five strikeouts.

Young shortstop prospect Gunnar Henderson hit a two-run homer to the opposite field in left in the first inning for low Single-A Delmarva.

DL Hall has 4 strikeouts through his first 1.2 innings including this elevated fastball that the announcers say hit 99 MPH👀 pic.twitter.com/fWgkhuqI5D

-- Trevor Hooth (@HoothTrevor) May 4, 2021