O's game blog: The Orioles went 6-1 against Oakland last season

The Orioles today begin a stretch of 22 straight games playing non-American League East opponents. It starts with a three-game series, now spread over just two days, against the Oakland Athletics to end this 10-game homestand. This stretch ends on May 30 when the Orioles host Boston.

The 22-game stretch is the longest run all year in which they will not play an AL East rival. So far this season, the Orioles are 9-5 versus division teams and 7-6 against teams outside of the East.

The Orioles are hosting the A's for a day-night doubleheader today, with the second game to start at 7:05 p.m. after last night's rainout at Camden Yards.

The O's went 6-1 against the A's last year, including a mark of 4-0 at Camden Yards. Last Aug. 14-17, the Orioles recorded their first-ever four-game home sweep of Oakland. They beat Sonny Gray to complete the sweep, which came by a combined 34-13 score.

On the mound in Game 1, Mike Wright (1-2, 5.18 ERA) pitches against one-time Oriole left-hander Rich Hill (3-3, 2.53 ERA).

Wright's last start was a week ago yesterday on April 29 when he faced the Chicago White Sox. Over six innings, he allowed five hits and two runs with two walks and six strikeouts. He threw 90 pitches. Wright's last appearance came in relief when he pitched a scoreless ninth inning on Wednesday against the Yankees. He threw 13 pitches, 11 for strikes.

Wright, who has two quality starts this season, has walked six and fanned 18 over 24 1/3 innings. In three games (two starts) at home, he is 0-1 with a 3.46 ERA. Wright, who is making his 14th career start this afternoon, has never faced Oakland.

Hill pitched to an ERA of 4.15 his first three 2016 starts, but is 2-1 with a 1.42 ERA over his past three. He allowed an average of .321 in the first three games, but that number is just .143 the past three outings. In three road starts, he is 3-0 with an ERA of 0.95.

The Orioles are 16-11 with five wins their last eight games. They are 11-4 at home. Oakland has lost four in a row - three of those by just one run - and is 13-16 for the season. The A's have lost nine of 12 games and their starting pitchers are 2-8 with an ERA of 7.14 in that span.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Thursday night's game marked the 1,028th matchup between the Orioles and Yankees, but it was only the third time that the teams were scoreless through nine innings. On June 3, 1981, the Yankees beat the Orioles 2-0 in 11 innings at Yankee Stadium. On Sept. 12, 2014, in the first game of a doubleheader, the Orioles won 2-1 in 11 innings at Camden Yards. Kevin Gausman tossed seven shutout innings in the game.

The Orioles played four doubleheaders during the 2015 season. The O's split a twin bill with the Chicago White Sox on May 28, swept the Cleveland Indians on June 28, split with the Toronto Blue Jays on Sept. 30 and swept the Yankees on Oct. 3 - all at Camden Yards. Since the team moved to Baltimore in 1954, the Orioles are 169-141-287 (sweep-swept-split) in doubleheaders.