O's game blog: The season resumes in Toronto

TORONTO - The Orioles resume their season tonight with the start of a three-game series at Rogers Centre. The Orioles (28-69) won their final two games before the All-Star break, but are still 41 games under .500 and 39 1/2 games out of first place in the American League East.

They have just one winning streak of more than two games this season and that was when they won four in a row from May 9-12. But after winning those last two games over Texas, the Orioles are 4-4 their last eight games. As they resume the season tonight, they are 16-33 at home, 12-36 on the road and 11-25 in division games.

Since May 25, the Orioles are 5-24 in games versus American League opponents. They are 1-6 this season against Toronto and got swept in a four-game series at Rogers Centre from June 7-10. In that series, they lost 5-4 in 10 innings, 5-1, 4-3 in 10 innings and 13-3 in the series finale. They were outscored 27-11 in that series.

Toronto (43-52) is in fourth place in the AL East and 23 1/2 games behind division-leading Boston. The Blue Jays have lost four of five and six of their last eight. They are 24-25 at home, 14-25 versus the AL East and 4-9 this month.

Right-hander Dylan Bundy (6-9, 4.35 ERA) will make his 19th start for the Orioles. In two starts since returning from the DL, Bundy is 0-2 with an ERA of 12.28. In 7 1/3 innings, he has given up 14 hits and 11 runs (10 earned). Bundy has 10 quality starts and the Orioles are 7-11 in his outings.

He pitched well but took a loss in his only 2018 start versus Toronto. On April 9, he went seven innings and allowed four hits and two runs with two walks and 10 strikeouts. While Bundy has an ERA of 1.83 in day games, he is 1-8 with a 7.11 ERA in 10 night game starts.

The Orioles rotation has recorded 42 quality starts and that is tied for sixth in the AL in 2018.

AL team leaders in quality starts:
69 - Houston
58 - Cleveland
50 - Boston
45 - Seattle
43 - New York
42 - Baltimore, Oakland

The Orioles have a losing record of 17-25 in those 42 games. Orioles starters have received 208 runs of support this season, which is the fewest in the majors. Overall, O's pitchers have received 345 runs of support, which is second-fewest in the majors and the AL (Kansas City, 337).

Second baseman Jonathan Schoop is hitting .368 (21-for-57) in 15 games this month. He is a career .283 hitter in July, his second-highest monthly average for his career (August, .287). Last Tuesday night, Schoop delivered his third career walk-off hit with an RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. The walk-off winner was his first since Sept. 1, 2017 versus Toronto.

Mark Trumbo has hit nine homers over his past 28 games since June 17. That is tied for second in the AL in that span behind only Houston's Alex Bregman, who has 10.

Right-hander Sam Gaviglio (2-3, 4.58 ERA) starts for Toronto, making his 14th appearance and 12th start. In his last start on July 14 versus Boston, he went 3 1/3 innings and allowed four hits and one run. He was acquired from Kansas City in March for a player to be named. Gaviglio is 1-0 with an ERA of 1.97 in seven home games. He is prone to the homer ball, yielding 10 in 57 innings for an average of 1.6 per nine innings. He throws his 89 mph two-seam sinker 54 percent of the time and an 84 mph slider 26 percent.