O's game blog: The road trip opener in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO – The Orioles have made their first trip to San Francisco since the 2016 season and the clubs open a three-game series at Oracle Park tonight. For the Orioles (35-21) it is the start of a two-city, six-game road trip that moves on to Milwaukee next.

The Orioles went 5-1 on their last trip to Toronto and New York but came home and lost back-to-back series for the first time this season. They went 2-4 against Texas and Cleveland.

The Orioles are 18-9 in road games this year and they are 10-4 the past 14 away from Oriole Park. They are a very solid 7-2 in road series, losing only at Boston and Atlanta.

The Orioles are 13-5 in series-opening games but they have lost their past three and in five of the last seven such games.

As they try to improve their series record for the year to 13-5-1 in San Francisco, they face a Giants team that lost two of three to Pittsburgh this week, losing the last two games and is 28-28 for the year. San Francisco began this year at 6-13 but is 22-15 since April 22. And the Giants are 11-5 in the last 16 games coming into this series.

They had a four-series win streak snapped by Pittsburgh as they completed the month of May going 17-12.

The Giants have won six of their last nine at home and are 14-7 in the last 21 games at Oracle Park where they are 16-13 on the year.

A few O’s hitters will try to get their bats going tonight:

* Ryan Mountcastle is just 7-for-38 (.184) over his past 10 games with 12 strikeouts. And he is batting .167 (11-for-66) in his past 18 games.

* Gunnar Henderson has just two hits in his last 16 at-bats. But after producing an OPS of only .659 through April, his OPS in May was .740.

* Jorge Mateo is 5-for-30 (.167) over his last nine games and is batting .113 (7-for-62) over his last 19 games.

* On the plus side, catcher Adley Rutschman has gone 10-for-18 (.556) in his past five games.

* Anthony Santander is 7-for-13 in his last three games with three doubles, a triple, a homer and five RBIs. In May he batted .337/.422/.634/1.056 with seven homers and 22 RBIs.

The Orioles are 9-9 all-time against San Francisco. They last played in 2019 in Baltimore with the Orioles losing two of three. The O’s won two of three during their last trip to San Francisco in August of 2016 and they are 7-5 all time in games in San Francisco.  

Right-hander Dean Kremer (5-2, 4.58 ERA) will make his 12^th start of the season tonight and has allowed three earned runs or less in five consecutive appearances. He is 3-1 with a 2.45 ERA in those games, allowing a .266 batting average and .668 OPS. In five road games he is 2-1 with a 4.15 ERA.

Kremer has never faced the Giants but has a solid career interleague record. He is 4-1 with a 3.18 ERA in five career starts against the National League, allowing a .281 batting average and .706 OPS.

Right-hander Logan Webb (4-5, 2.75 ERA), who ranks fifth in the National League in ERA, has never faced the Orioles but will in the series opener.

In his last seven games, he is 4-1 with a 1.68 ERA. In five home starts at Oracle Park, he is 2-2 with a 1.65 ERA. 

Webbs ranks fifth in the NL in innings (72), tied for sixth in strikeouts (76), eighth in WHIP (1.069) and is tied for 12th in batting average against (.236).