O's game blog: The long homestand begins

By Steve Melewski

Orioles

August 01, 2019, 3:01pm

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After going 5-4 on a West Coast trip that ended Tuesday, the Orioles begin a 10-game homestand tonight. Toronto is at Camden Yards for a four-game series. They'll be followed in by the New York Yankees for three games and Houston for three more.

The Orioles went 4-5 on the homestand coming out of the All-Star break, going 1-3 versus Tampa Bay, 1-1 against Washington and 2-1 versus Boston. They are 15-36 at home and 21-35 on the road. The Orioles are 16-30 against the American League East, including a 6-19 mark at Oriole Park. They are 5-4 in 2019 against Toronto.

Toronto (43-67) is in fourth place in the AL East, 26 1/2 games back of New York. The Orioles (36-71) are in fifth, 32 games back.

The O's have won four of six, eight of 13 and and are 14-13 since June 28. Toronto went 6-10 in its first 16 games to start the second half, but just came from Kansas City, where they swept a three-game series by a combined 20-6 score.

Tonight, right-hander Asher Wojciechowski (2-3, 3.60 ERA) faces Toronto right-hander Trent Thornton (3-7, 5.45 ERA).

The Orioles finished the month of July with a record of 12-12. July marked the O's first non-losing month since August 2017 (17-12), and their first non-losing month of July since 2014, when they went 17-8. Their 12 wins were the most in a month since August 2017. As a team, the O's hit .256 during the month while scoring 5.13 runs/game, both monthly highs for the season.

The Orioles have scored 67 runs in the first inning and are hitting .249/.320/.469 during the first frame. Their .789 first-inning OPS ranks sixth in the AL and 14th in the majors. The O's 67 runs scored in the first rank fourth in the AL and are tied for seventh in the majors. Their 21 first-inning home runs are fourth in the AL and are tied for sixth in the majors. Hanser Alberto is hitting .406 (13-for-32) and Pedro Severino is hitting .389 (7-for-18) in the first inning.

Finally, some trade deadline stats: There were 77 players traded in 30 deals that became official on deadline day, compared to 43 players swapped in 16 moves on July 31, 2018. The 30 trades yesterday broke the previous mark of 18 deals in 2016.