O's game blog: The chance for a series win at Oakland

With Friday's 3-2 win at Oakland, the Orioles improved to 3-1 on their West Coast road trip, winning another well pitched game. Right-hander Albert Suárez and three relievers teamed on a five-hitter with 11 strikeouts.

The O's wins on the trip have come via 2-0, 4-1 and 3-2 scores, so three wins allowing just three runs.

The Orioles (56-32) begin play Saturday leading the American League East by three games over the Yankees, who have gone 4-14 their past 18 games with a loss Friday to Boston.

O's starting pitchers on this trip - Grayson Rodriguez, Dean Kremer, Corbin Burnes and Suárez - have allowed four runs and 12 hits and eight walks over 23 1/3 innings while striking out 28. The rotation ERA is 1.54 in this span.

O's starting pitchers have allowed two earned runs or fewer eight times over their past nine games, posting a 2.42 ERA in this stretch.

Last night was the 33rd time this year the Orioles have allowed two runs or fewer this season, and they are 32-1 in those games. They have allowed two runs or fewer in six of the past nine, also having games in this span in which they gave up seven and 11 runs.

In the four games of this trip at Seattle and Oakland. the Orioles allowed 10 runs with a team ERA of 2.57. Their pitchers have walked 10 and fanned 46 in those games while allowing a .156 batting average and .526 OPS.

The Orioles are now 7-2 their past nine games. They are 27-15 in road games, 3-1 in July, 2-2 against Oakland and 19-10 in series-opening games.

The Orioles are 10-11 in games decided by one run, winning their past three versus Texas and Oakland.

The A's (33-57) had entered this series coming off a three-game sweep of the Angels. The sweep followed a stretch when the Athletics lost seven of eight and 17 of their past 21 games.

O's lefty Cade Povich (1-2, 4.05 ERA) will make his sixth big league start this afternoon. He has thrown 26 2/3 innings, allowing 23 hits and 10 walks while getting 17 strikeouts. He has a 1.238 WHIP with a 3.4 walk rate and 5.7 strikeout rate.

He picked up his first career win Saturday at home versus Texas, giving up two runs over five innings. In his past four starts he has a 2.53 ERA, allowing a .225 batting average and .705 OPS in this span.

Baseball America now ranks Povich as the No. 87 prospect in its most recently updated top 100 list.

Oakland right-hander Luis Medina (1-3, 4.80 ERA) will make his seventh start. Medina, 25, from the Dominican Republic, has thrown 30 innings and he has a 1.500 WHIP with a 4.5 walk rate and 6.6 K rate. 

The Athletics are 1-5 in his outings. Last Sunday at Arizona he gave up one run over six innings. He's pitched three games in which he has allowed one earned run or none, but has also had three games in which he's surrendered four, four and six earned runs. 

Lefty batters hit .214 with a .609 OPS against Medina while right-handed batters have hit .295 with an .816 OPS off him. 

The O's pitchers have fanned 10+ batters in four straight games, tying a season high, first set from June 13-16. Averaging 8.58 strikeouts per nine innings, the O's are tied for 16th in MLB.

Outfielder Austin Hays went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a run scored, and an RBI on his 29th birthday on Friday. He is the 14th player in O's history with at least three hits on their birthday and the first since J.J. Hardy on Aug. 19, 2013 against Tampa Bay.