O's game blog: The opener of the road trip at Arizona

PHOENIX – Just 12 days after ending a nine-game West Coast road trip, the Orioles are about to begin another. This one will end back East at Fenway Park, but it starts tonight at Chase Field against the Arizona Diamondbacks and continues Monday in Anaheim, Calif. at the Los Angeles Angels.

The first-place Orioles (83-50) have been a strong road team this year and are 41-24 in road games and 13-6-2 in road series. They are 16-5 in road series-opening games.

They have a better win percentage on the road (.631) than at home (.618, 42-26).

The Orioles are coming off a 6-3 homestand where they went 2-1 each against Toronto, Colorado and the Chicago White Sox.

Despite a 10-5 loss to the White Sox Wednesday afternoon, the Orioles finished August going 18-9 and they are 29-15 in the second half. They have won six of eight, nine of 12 and 20 of the last 29 games. Their 18 wins in August, matched their win total from April when they were also 18-9.

Arizona (69-65) is in pursuit of a wild-card spot in the National League and is 35-32 at home, 17-17 versus AL teams but only 17-26 in the second half. Arizona began play today one game out of the third NL wild-card spot. 

Arizona had a wild ride in August, beginning the month losing nine in a row. The Diamondbacks then went 11-2 over 13 games and now have lost four of the past five. In a series that ended Wednesday they were swept three in a row by the Los Angeles Dodgers, losing 7-4, 9-1 and 7-0.

There are four players on their roster with ties to the Orioles. They include Christian Walker, drafted by the Birds in round four of the 2012 MLB Draft. He has 28 homers and an OPS of .863 to rank 10^th-best in the NL. Former O’s infielder/outfielder Jace Peterson is with the team and so are pitchers Zach Davies, who starts tonight and reliever Miguel Castro.

Davies (1-5, 6.93 ERA) has had a rough season, spending time on the injured list twice with a left oblique issue and just recently with lower back inflammation. He went to the IL on July 19 for a back issue and just returned on Aug. 26 to throw five innings allowing one run against Cincinnati. Tonight is his second start since his return from the IL a second time. 

Davies, who is one of 11 MLB pitchers to make 27 or more starts five times in the last seven years, has made just 13 this season.

The right-hander was the O’s 26^th-round pick out of an Arizona high school in the 2011 draft by then scouting director Joe Jordan. This year he has allowed four runs or more in six of 13 starts and has just two quality starts.

He is 0-4 with a 6.28 ERA in nine home starts and the D-backs are 5-8 in his starts. He has never pitched against the Orioles.

Lefty Cole Irvin (1-3, 4.78 ERA) gets the start for Baltimore in the road trip opener. The Orioles are 8-3 in his 11 starts and have won his last six.

Since he returned to the roster from the farm on June 10, Irvin is 1-1 with a 3.35 ERA and .690 OPS against. He has made 15 appearances and eight starts since. In the eight starts only he is 1-1 with a 2.72 ERA with seven walks and 31 strikeouts over 39 2/3 innings. The O’s are 7-1 in those eight games, where Irvin has allowed a .232 batting average and .673 OPS.

The O's clinched their second straight winning season this week following their 83rd win. They are just the seventh team in MLB history to have back-to-back winning seasons immediately following a 100-loss season. The most recent to do this before the Orioles was the 1987 San Francisco Giants, per Stats Perform.

The Orioles are 0-4 all-time in series in Arizona.