O's game blog: The series finale against Cleveland

The Orioles are set for another rubber match game today, this one with the Cleveland Guardians in the third and deciding game of their series at Oriole Park. Cleveland won 6-3 behind Shane Bieber on Friday night as their pitchers fanned 15 Orioles batters. And Baltimore hit three homers, accounting for all its runs on Saturday in a 5-4 win.

Austin Hays hit No. 6 in the third inning and his three-run shot gave the Orioles a 4-2 lead. Trey Mancini homered in the first inning to tie the game at 1-1 and Rougned Odor’s solo shot in the fourth extended the Baltimore lead to 5-2. The Orioles had just four hits for the game.

The Orioles are now 2-3 on this homestand, which has three games left, and 14-14 at home for the year. They are 5-5 over their past 10 games, 9-8 in the last 17 and 17-18 over their past 35 games.

Today the Orioles will play their 10^th rubber match game of the year and they are 6-3:

* April 13, lose 4-2 to Milwaukee.

* April 17, beat New York Yankees 5-0.

* May 1, beat Boston 2-1 (10).

* May 9, beat Kansas City 6-1.

* May 12, win 3-2 at St. Louis.

* May 22, beat Tampa Bay 7-6 (11).

* May 25, lose 2-0 to New York Yankees.

* May 30, win 10-0 at Boston.

* June 2, lost 7-6 to Seattle (10).

The Orioles have now had 58 percent of their games decided by one or two runs. They are 7-9 in one-run games and 8-8 in games decided by two runs.

Odor and Cleveland’s Andrés Giménez each hit a Eutaw Street home run on Saturday, marking the third time in ballpark history two Eutaw Street home runs were hit in the same game. And it was the first such time since June 29, 2012 versus Cleveland, with Asdrúbal Cabrera and the Orioles' Matt Wieters doing so.

Mancini’s first-inning homer went 438-feet, the longest by an Oriole this season and the fifth-longest of his career. He has homered twice in his last four games and hit safely in eight of his last nine games; batting .412 (14-for-34) with four doubles, one triple, two home runs, and seven RBIs

Hays’ three-run blast was his first homer at Oriole Park since May 5 against Minnesota. He produced his second three-RBI game of the season, the first being April 26 at Yankee Stadium.

Odor hit his first career Eutaw Street home run, and it was the first by an Oriole since Aug. 24, 2021 when Anthony Santander connected against the Los Angeles Angels. It was the 115th of all-time at Camden Yards and the 54th by an Oriole. Odor has hit safely in 15 of his last 19 games dating to May 16, slashing .269/.310/.582 (18-for-67) with four doubles, one triple, and five home runs in that span.