O's game blog: The Red Sox series begins

The Orioles begin the final series of the year tonight at Fenway Park in Boston. The Orioles come in off Wednesday's 3-2 loss at Toronto and are 3-3 in their last six games, but have lost seven of 10 games.

The Orioles (52-107) are 27-51 on the road, 22-51 versus the AL East, 7-17 in September, 15-36 in series opening games, 33-35 when they score first, 5-11 against Boston and 2-5 at Fenway Park.

Boston (83-76) won two of three against Texas in its last series, scoring 27 runs, and has recorded five straight games of 10 hits or more. The Red Sox have won three of five and are 7-6 in the last 13 games. Boston is 37-41 at home, 34-39 versus the American League East and 10-13 this month.

Only once in franchise history have the Red Sox finished with a winning overall record despite a losing record at home. In 1980, Boston went 83-77 overall but just 36-45 at home.

Boston has hit five homers over the last two nights and now has 243 for the year, setting a new single-season franchise record (previous: 238 in 2003). They hit 208 in 2018. Boston has six players with 20 or more home runs, tied for the most in franchise history (also 2003). Mitch Moreland needs one more homer to join that list.

J.D. Martinez (35), Xander Bogaerts (32) and Rafael Devers (32) are only the third Red Sox trio ever with 30 or more homers each in a season, joining the 2016 (Mookie Betts, David Ortiz, Hanley Ramirez) and 1977 (Butch Hobson, Jim Rice, George Scott) clubs.

A look at some O's hitters recently:

* Trey Mancini saw an 11-game hitting streak snapped Wednesday. He is batting .444 (24-for-54) with an OPS of 1.270 in his past 12 games, with six doubles, four home runs and 17 RBIs. Mancini has hit safely in 12 consecutive games at Fenway Park hitting .340 (16-for-47) during this stretch. For his career, Mancini is a .370/.429/.620 (34-for-92) hitter with 10 doubles, two triples, three home runs, 18 runs and 18 RBIs in 24 games at Fenway Park. His 1.048 career OPS at Fenway leads all active players (minimum 100 PA).

* Anthony Santander is 1-for-21 his past four games. Over his last 12 games, he is 5-for-54 (.093) with 18 strikeouts.

* Hanser Alberto is 1-for-14 over his last three games and 9-for-51 (.176) over his last dozen games. Alberto ranks sixth in the AL and 14th in the majors with a .306 batting average. He has struck out just 50 times in 542 plate appearances and leads the majors with 10.84 plate appearances per strikeout.

* Austin Hays is batting .421 (16-for-38) against right-handers and .091 (2-for-22) against left-handers.

* Pedro Severino is hitting .300 (45-for-150) in 46 road games, compared to .200 (31-for-155) in 50 home games.

* Jonathan Villar is hitting .294 with 54 runs and 34 RBIs since the All-Star break and ranks third in the AL in hits and seventh in runs scored since the break. According to FanGraphs.com, he leads the Orioles with a 3.9 WAR which is 19th-highest in the AL.

O's right-hander Asher Wojciechowski (3-8, 5.31 ERA) gets the start for the Orioles. The team is 4-11 when he is the starter. In two games against Boston, he is 1-1 with a 1.54 ERA. On July 21 in Baltimore, he threw six no-hit innings against Boston, allowing one hit over 7 1/3 innings as the O's won 5-0 on a three-pitcher one-hitter. He fanned 10 and had nine strikeouts over the first four innings, getting 18 swings and misses in that span.

Righty Nathan Eovaldi (2-0, 6.03 ERA) will start for Boston. Over 62 2/3 innings, he has allowed 69 hits and has a WHIP of 1.596, allowing 9.9 hits per nine with 2.2 homers, 4.5 walks and 9.6 strikeouts. Over his past three starts, he is 1-0 with a 6.91 ERA, allowing 20 hits in 14 1/3 innings. In his lone 2019 start against the Orioles, he gave up three hits and five runs in two innings on Aug. 18. He gave up a three-run home run to Renato Núñez.