O's game blog: The road trip finale in Anaheim

The Orioles wrap up a three-city, 10-game road trip today in Anaheim and need a win or they will be swept three in a row by the Los Angeles Angels. The Angels beat the Orioles 8-7 on Friday night in a walk-off win and 4-1 last night behind right-hander Alex Cobb's strong start.

The Orioles will wind up losing the first and third series on the road trip and sweeping Houston three straight in the middle leg. So, yes, strange trip.

A loss today and they would go 1-6 playing Toronto and the Angels and 3-0, scoring 27 runs, when playing at Houston against the team that started that series with the best record in the American League.

The Orioles went 5-for-30 with five singles on Saturday night. Ramón Urías went 2-for-3 with two of the five hits. Urías is batting .406 (13-for-32) over his past 11 games. Cedric Mullins has been held hitless in this series, going 0-for-9. Austin Hays went 0-for-4 last night to snap a nine-game hitting streak during which he hit .412 with two homers and nine RBIs.

Cobb last night recorded the longest pitching performance of the season for any Angels pitcher and longest since Griffin Canning worked eight innings on Aug. 30, 2020 against Seattle. His 7 2/3 innings were his most in a game since tossing a complete game on Aug. 18, 2018 for the Orioles at Cleveland and he has earned wins in five of seven starts. Cobb improved to 7-2 with a 2.56 ERA in 13 career starts against Baltimore.

Los Angeles has won three straight overall and five of six. The Angels have also won eight of 11 games at Angel Stadium and 13 of 18 at home. They are now at exactly .500 on the season (41-41) for the 11th time this year.

Shohei Ohtani was intentionally walked twice for first time in his major league career and becomes the first Angels player to receive two intentional passes in a game since Mike Trout on Aug. 30, 2020. He is the first Angels player not named Mike Trout to receive two intentional walks in a game since Albert Pujols on June 18, 2015. Trout had each of Angels' last eight multi-intentional walk games.

Right-hander Thomas Eshelman (0-1, 6.57 ERA), who played his college baseball at UC-Santa Barbara, faces the Angels today in the series finale. It's his fourth start since his call-up from Triple-A this year.

Eshelman has pitched 12 1/3 innings in those games, allowing 16 hits and nine runs with five walks and four strikeouts. He has a 1.703 WHIP with a 3.6 walk rate and 2.9 strikeout rate. The Orioles are 2-1 in his starts.

On Monday at Houston, Eshelman allowed five hits and two runs over 3 2/3 innings with three walks and no strikeouts on 75 pitches. He gave up one run in 4 2/3 innings in his first start June 18 against Toronto. But he has allowed eight runs in 7 2/3 innings in his past two games against Houston. Lefty batters are hitting .235 with a .569 OPS against Eshelman, but right-handers are hitting .353/.1.007.

Lefty Patrick Sandoval (2-2, 3.89 ERA) will make his 11th appearance and eighth start today for the Angels. An 11th-round draft pick by Houston in 2015, he has thrown 44 innings this year, allowing 38 hits, including eight homers, with a 1.250 WHIP. He has allowed 7.8 hits per nine innings with 3.5 walks and 9.4 strikeouts.

In his last game a week ago on the road against Tampa Bay, he gave up four hits and three runs over five innings. The Angels are 4-3 in his starts.

Since May 17, Sandoval, 24, has been in the Angels rotation, making seven starts. In those games, he is 2-2 with a 3.44 ERA over 36 2/3 innings, allowing a .239 batting average against and a .689 OPS.