O's game blog: The series finale against Toronto

After the ninth-inning meltdown on Saturday that led to a 10-7 loss, the Orioles look to bounce back right away as they host Toronto today in the series finale. The Orioles won 7-1 Friday night when their pitchers allowed just four hits. But they gave up six runs and five hits in the ninth yesterday in a 10-7 loss.

The Orioles (23-47) have lost nine of the last 10 games. They are 12-22 at home, 6-10 this month and 9-19 versus American League East clubs.

The Orioles (6) and Blue Jays (3) combined for nine home runs, the most in a game at Oriole Park since April 20, 2019 (game two) when 11 combined home runs were hit by the Orioles (3) and Twins (8). The Orioles' first six hits of the game were homers. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the second time in the Expansion Era (since 1961) in which a team's first six hits were all home runs. That also was done by Cleveland on June 24, 1989 at Texas, when all six of the Indians' hits in the game were home runs. The five solo home runs by the Orioles matched a major league single-game-high for the 2021 season, and 54 of the club's 80 home runs (67.5 percent) on the year have been solo homers.

Today manager Brandon Hyde talked about trying to bounce back after that loss.

"I think in our sport you play every day, so it really does depend on the next day's starting pitcher, which really factors in," he said. "This team has had some tough losses the last few years and we've usually responded fairly well and give our guys a lot of credit for that. It was a tough loss, no doubt about it, but I don't sense any frustration. I think guys have turned the page pretty well in our clubhouse."

Right-hander Matt Harvey (3-8, 7.76 ERA) will make his 15th start of the year in the series finale. In his first seven starts, Harvey went 3-2 with a 3.60 ERA, allowing a batting line of .250/.307/.386, and gave up three homers over 35 innings. In his past seven starts since May 12, he is 0-6 with a 14.09 ERA, allowing a batting line of .395/.440/.684 with seven homers over 23 innings. The Orioles went 4-3 in those first seven games and have gone 1-6 in the last seven.

Lefty Hyun Jin Ryu (5-4, 3.43 ERA) gets the start for the Blue Jays. In three starts this month, he is 0-2 with a 6.11 ERA and has allowed five homers over 17 2/3 innings. The team is 7-6 in his outings this season.

The Orioles have outhomered Toronto in this series 8-4. The Blue Jays lead the majors with 109 homers.

In the two games of this series, the Orioles have scored 14 runs on 21 hits with eight homers. The Orioles have scored seven runs in three of their past four games and have scored 24 runs in those games.

But O's pitching has allowed 10 runs in two of the past three games, allowing just one run on Friday night against Toronto. O's pitching has allowed 36 runs the last five games and 70 in the last 10.

The Orioles' six homers yesterday were their most since hitting six on Aug. 18, 2016 versus Houston. The team record is eight homers in one game on June 16, 2015 versus Philadelphia. That was the 20th time in club history the Orioles have homered six or more times and the 12th time it happened at Oriole Park. The Orioles are 99-13 at Camden Yards all-time when they hit four or more homers in a game.

The Orioles are batting .272/.329/.458 in 16 games in June and their batting average this month ranks as the fourth-best in the American League, while their OBP and slugging each rank as the fifth-highest.

Cedric Mullins is slashing .424/.507/.881 (25-for-59) with 12 extra-base hits in the month of June. He leads the AL in OBP, slugging, and OPS (1.389) this month, while ranking second in batting average, extra-base hits, and total bases (52). Ryan Mountcastle is hitting .383/.403/.783 with seven home runs, 12 runs scored, and 19 RBIs in 15 June games. His 19 RBIs are tied for the most in the majors and American League this month.