O's game blog: The road trip moves on to Toronto

TORONTO - The Orioles lost two of three at Cleveland and tonight begin a three-game series in Toronto against the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.

The Orioles went 6-4 here last year, but are 0-7 in Toronto in 2018. They were swept in four straight by a combined 27-11 score in June. The were swept three in a row by a 17-12 score in July. They've blown a few late leads in those games, lost four of them by one run and three went extra innings.

Will they finally get a victory at Rogers Centre in this series?

The Orioles (37-87) lost 8-0 Sunday at Cleveland as they were shut out for the 11th time. The O's offense produced five runs and 18 hits in Cleveland. The Orioles scored five runs in the last three games of a recent four-game series with Boston (after 12 in the opener), then scored 11 in two games against the Mets before being held to five at Cleveland in those three games.

Toronto (55-69) lost 10-2 at Yankee Stadium to complete a 2-5 road trip. The Blue Jays are 4-12 against New York. Toronto is 0-3-1 in its past four series, 29-32 at home and 19-32 versus American League East foes. Toronto has fallen 14 games under the .500 mark, its most games under since the end of the 2014 season at 74-88.

Right-hander Andrew Cashner (4-10, 4.71 ERA) will make his 24th start of the season tonight. Since Cashner gave up 10 runs in 1 2/3 innings on Aug. 2 at Texas, he has thrown 14 innings over his last two starts, allowing nine hits and three earned runs.

Cashner has eight quality starts his past 12 outings, pitching to an ERA of 4.39. If you could take away that 10-run game, his ERA would be 3.14 in that span. In 11 road starts, he is 2-5 with a 4.89 ERA.

The Orioles are 8-15 in Cashner's starts. But they have won the last two and are 4-2 in the last six. Cashner is 0-1 with a 1.93 ERA in three 2018 games versus Toronto. In five career starts, he is 1-1 with a 2.27 ERA.

His mound opponent is Toronto right-hander Marco Estrada (6-9, 4.87 ERA). In his last four starts, he is 2-2 with a 5.48 ERA. In two starts against the Orioles this year he is 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA. He has made 17 career appearances (15 starts) against Baltimore, going 8-2 with a 3.46 ERA and 1.143 WHIP with 9.4 strikeouts per nine innings.

Outfielder Cedric Mullins went 2-for-3 Sunday and hit his first career home run Saturday. Since making his MLB debut on Aug. 10, he is batting .387 (12-for-31) and six of his 12 hits are extra-base hits. Mullins has five doubles through nine career games. He is the first Orioles batter with at least five doubles through nine career games since current Orioles assistant hitting coach Howie Clark notched five doubles in 2002.

Since making his debut on Aug. 10, Mullins' .387 batting average leads AL rookies and ranks second in the majors among rookies behind Atlanta's Ronald Acuña, Jr. (.450). His five doubles since August 10 are tied for second-most in the majors among rookies.

Akin honored: Double-A Bowie lefty Keegan Akin was today named the Eastern League Pitcher of the Week. In two starts last week, he went 2-0 with a 1.46 ERA and 13 strikeouts. He threw 6 2/3 scoreless innings on four hits Sunday versus Erie.

For the season, Akin is 14-6 with a 2.77 ERA. He leads the league in wins, ERA and strikeouts, and is one inning off the league lead in that stat. Since the All-Star break, Akin is 6-0 with an ERA of 2.34. In 42 1/3 innings, he has walked 14 and fanned 40.