O's game blog: The series begins with the first-place Atlanta Braves

The Orioles schedule gets much tougher beginning tonight and, after a strong 21-10 start, we will get a good look at how they do against some top teams that are straight ahead on that schedule.

In April and counting the three games at Kansas City, the Orioles played 19 of 31 games versus clubs with current losing records. They played 12 games against winning record clubs, going 6-6 against Texas, Boston and the New York Yankees.

But the Orioles’ next three series will all be against first-place clubs and clubs that join Baltimore with the four current best records in MLB.

.813 – Tampa Bay
.688 – Atlanta
.677 – Orioles
.625 – Pittsburgh

The Orioles are keeping good company in this group but now their next nine games are against Atlanta, Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh. The play four after that with the second-place Los Angeles Angels, a club that is currently only one game out of first place. After that series, they play nine in a row against Toronto, the Yankees and Texas.

That is some run of games with the next 22 against clubs that are all over .500, some well over .500.

Atlanta (22-10) just swept three in a row from Miami on the road, scoring 26 runs in those games. The Braves have the top record in the National League, lead the NL East by six games and have won eight of their past 10 games. Atlanta, the 2021 World Series champion, went 101-61 last year and has won the NL East title five straight years beginning in 2018.

While the Orioles are 10-0 this year in series-opening games, Atlanta is 9-1.

These two clubs have begun this season with two of the best offenses in the majors. At an average of 5.52 runs per game, the Orioles rank fifth in MLB with Atlanta sixth at 5.50. The Braves are second in MLB in slugging (.471) and in OPS (.815) and tied for second in homers (54). The O’s have 38 homers to rank 11^th in the majors and their team OPS of .770 is seventh.

Where Atlanta can outshine the Orioles right now is in the pitching department. The Braves team ERA ranks fifth in the majors at 3.51 and Atlanta ranks fourth in rotation ERA at 3.31. The O’s are 18^th in team ERA (4.57) and 25^th in rotation ERA (5.65).

Right-hander Grayson Rodriguez gave up six runs over 3 2/3 innings Thursday in Kansas City and the Orioles have now gone 11 straight games without a quality start – their longest stretch of the year. O’s starters have given up four runs or more 16 times in 31 games.

The Orioles (21-10) have won seven consecutive series after taking the series-deciding game at Kauffman Stadium by a 13-10 score yesterday. Overall, Baltimore has won four of five, six of eight, 13 of 16 and 17 of its last 22 games. The Orioles are 5-2 on this 10-game road trip and 12-6 in road games for the year.

Right-hander Dean Kremer (2-1, 6.67 ERA) will try to turn his season around tonight and it would be a great time for that to happen. He has allowed four runs or more in five of his six starts. Over his past two games – against Detroit and Boston – he gave up 18 hits and nine runs over 10 2/3 innings.

Lefty batters have hit .390 with an OPS of 1.056 this season off Kremer. Last year lefties batted .271/.713 against Kremer when he posted an ERA of 3.23 over 22 games.

The O’s could have their hands full tonight with Atlanta lefty Max Fried (2-0, 0.45 ERA), who will make his fifth start. He was on the injured list from April 4 and reactivated April 17 with a strained left hamstring. He has given up just one run all year in 20 innings. Over his past three starts, he has not allowed a run while giving up 10 hits in 16 2/3 innings. In that span, opponents bat .175 with a .423 OPS against him.

Fried is hard to square up with an average exit velocity against of 83.2 mph to rank in the top two percent of baseball in that stat. He ranks in the top six percent in hard-hit percentage allowed and top four percent in allowing barrels. It is just hard to hit the ball hard off this guy.

But the Orioles rank seventh in the majors in average exit velocity at 89.9 mph. Atlanta, impressive in so many stat categories, can add this one to the list, ranking first in exit velocity at 90.8 mph.