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

The Orioles produced two outstanding pitching performances to lead the way in wins over the St. Louis Cardinals by 5-3 Tuesday and 3-2 yesterday as they won another series and improved to 14-18. Now their six-game, two-city road trip has moved on to Detroit for tonight’s series opener.

The Orioles and Tigers play the next three days. The Birds have won four of their past five games and six of their last eight, and they are 8-4 over the last 12 games. Since April 20 they are 11-10.

The Orioles are 4-1-1 the last six series.

* Went 2-1 at Los Angeles Angels.
* Went 0-3 at New York Yankees.
* Went 2-1 vs. Boston.
* Went 2-2 vs. Minnesota.
* Went 2-1 vs. Kansas City.
* Went 2-1 at St. Louis.

The Orioles are also now playing better in close games. They are 5-2 in their past seven games that were decided by one or two runs. For the year, they are 5-5 each in both one- and two-run games.

The Orioles pitching staff recently recorded quality starts for four consecutive games through Tuesday. And this season the starters have allowed two earned runs or fewer in 24 of the 32 games. The pitching staff for the year has allowed two earned runs or fewer 16 times. The bullpen ERA is 1.80 over the past eight games.

The Detroit Tigers, at 9-23, have the worst record in the American League as this series begins. They have lost three in a row and nine of 10 games. And since they held a 6-7 record, the Tigers are just 3-16. They’ve been shut out in three of their past six games.

Right-hander Jordan Lyles (2-2, 4.05 ERA) will make his seventh O’s start, and the club is 3-3 in the first six. He’s put together two straight solid starts, throwing six innings on 101 pitches against Boston and 90 over 7 1/3 innings Sunday in the opening game of the doubleheader with Kansas City.

In those two games he allowed 14 hits and three earned runs, with four walks to 11 strikeouts. O’s starters have just five outings this season in which they have thrown 90 or more pitches, four by Lyles and one by Kyle Bradish.

Lyles has allowed two earned runs or fewer four times in his six outings and has two quality starts, both coming over his past two games.

Lefty Eduardo Rodriguez (0-2, 4.50 ERA) gets the start in the series opener for the Tigers. In November, the Tigers signed Rodriguez to a five-year deal worth a guaranteed $77 million that could max out with incentives at $80 million. The deal includes an opt-out for Rodriguez after the second year. He is expected to earn $28 million over the 2022-2023 seasons.

Originally signed by the Orioles out of Valencia, Venezuela in January 2010, the southpaw went to Boston in a trade for Andrew Miller on July 31, 2014.

The Tigers are just 1-5 in his starts, but his last one was a good one. He allowed just one hit – a solo homer – and one run over 6 2/3 innings Saturday at Houston. He threw 99 pitches.

He has reverse splits thus far in 2022. While lefty batters have hit .360 with an OPS of 1.233 against him, right-handers are batting just .175/.520.

Last season for Boston he went 3-0 with a 2.25 ERA in 16 innings spanning three games versus the Orioles. For his career, he is 12-5 with a 3.11 ERA and 1.129 WHIP in 22 games against Baltimore, making 20 starts. 

Detroit's Miguel Cabrera, who recently recorded his 3,000th career hit, is chasing former O's as he moves up Major League Baseball's list of all-time stats leaders. He is currently sitting with 3,014 hits, and next on the list at No. 29 all-time is Rafael Palmeiro, at 3,020. Cabrera has 503 career homers, 25 all-time against the Orioles. Just ahead of him, with 504 career home runs, is Eddie Murray, at No. 27 all-time.