O's game blog: The series opener against Detroit, plus farm notes

The Orioles homestand continues tonight as they welcome the Detroit Tigers to Oriole Park for the first of three games. They will also host Detroit on Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon.

The Orioles got swept three straight over the weekend by the American League East-leading Tampa Bay Rays. They lost by scores of 10-6, 12-3 and 9-6. They scored 15 runs in the series but gave up 31 runs with more than half of them, 16, coming in the eighth inning.

As the Orioles (38-72) have lost five in a row by a combined 54-18 score, the Baltimore bullpen has allowed 37 runs (36 earned) over 19 2/3 innings for an ERA of 16.47. In the Tampa Bay series, the O's outscored the Rays 13-8 over the first five innings of those games, but they were outscored 23-2 from the sixth inning on.

Detroit (54-60) and the Orioles split four games at Comerica Park from July 29-Aug. 1 with the Orioles losing the first and fourth games and winning the middle two by 4-3 and 5-2 scores. Since that series, the Tigers went 2-1 versus Boston and 1-2 against Cleveland. Detroit is 22-35 on the road and 8-8 against AL East opponents.

Detroit has a winning record of 14-9 since the All-Star break and a winning mark of 25-18 since June 19. The Tigers are 38-14 when scoring five or more runs, but just 16-46 when producing four runs or less.

On the mound tonight for the Orioles will be lefty Keegan Akin (0-5, 7.66 ERA), who is making his ninth start of the year. Akins has allowed 70 hits on the season over 51 2/3 innings with nine homers, 20 walks and 47 strikeouts. He has a WHIP of 1.742, allowing 12.2 hits per nine innings with a walk rate of 3.5 and 8.2 strikeout rate.

In his most recent outing, Akin threw three scoreless innings on one hit Aug. 3 at Yankee Stadium. He walked none and fanned one, throwing 35 pitches. In that outing, Akin threw 18 four-seam fastballs, which averaged 93 mph and topped at 95 mph. He added eight sliders and changeups and threw one curveball that night.

But Akin has really struggled in his eight starts this year, going 0-5 with an 8.82 ERA and 1.990 WHIP as the Orioles have gone 1-7 in those games. Opponents have batted .343 against Akin with an OPS of .998 in his starts. He has a homer rate of 2.14 for every nine innings as a starter, but has allowed just one homer in 18 innings out of the bullpen.

Akin has yielded an ERA of 2.25 in the first innings of his starts and 6.75 in the second. But his ERA is 17.10 in the third inning, where he allows a .460 average and OPS of 1.371 and has given up five home runs in 57 plate appearances.

Right-hander Casey Mize (6-6, 3.57 ERA) will be on the mound tonight, making his 22nd start this season for Detroit. Mize was taken No. 1 overall out of Auburn in the 2018 draft and Detroit signed him to a $7.5 million bonus.

Mize has allowed four runs in two of his last three starts, but in the middle outing he pitched a strong game versus the Orioles July 29 at Comerica Park. He went seven innings, allowing four hits and one unearned run with two walks and strikeouts on 88 pitches. He rolled through the first three innings in that game on 31 pitches and took a shutout into the seventh. He gave up a single to Ryan McKenna, who advanced to third on Maikel Franco's single and scored on an error. But Detroit beat the Orioles 6-2 as Mize recorded his 11th quality start of the season.

Mize has recorded a WHIP of 1.129, giving up 7.8 hits per nine innings with 1.5 homers allowed. He has a 2.4 walk rate and average 7.0 strikeouts per nine. He throws his fastball 51 percent with an average velocity of 93.8 mph, using his cutter 27 percent, splitter 15 percent and curveball on 7 percent of his pitches. Mize has thrown five innings or less five times in his last six starts, the only exception being that start against Baltimore.

As of 6:45 p.m. tonight, the tarp was on the field and a delay at the start was likely. We no have potential start time yet.

On the farm: Catcher Adley Rutschman, now the No. 1 prospect in baseball, is batting second and making his Triple-A debut tonight for Norfolk at home versus Memphis. He is catching lefty Bruce Zimmermann, who is making a third rehab start and could join the Orioles for his next outing.

Norfolk lists Dean Kremer starting on Wednesday with Mike Baumann on Thursday and Ofelky Peralta on Friday.

Double-A Bowie announced some roster moves today:

* Outfielder Shayne Fontana moves from high Single-A Aberdeen to Bowie.
* Catcher Chris Hudgins moves from Norfolk to Bowie.
* Right-hander Tyler Joyner moves from Norfolk to Bowie.
* Right-hander Félix Bautista moves from Bowie to Norfolk.
* Outfielder Yusniel Diaz moves Bowie to Norfolk.

Bowie lists Grayson Rodriguez starting at home tomorrow night with Drew Rom going on Thursday and Blaine Knight on Friday.

O's top draft pick Colton Cowser went 2-for-3 with two singles today in the Rookie-level Florida Complex League. Cowser is batting .688 (11-for-16) in five games with three doubles, a homer, seven runs and seven RBIs. His OPS is 1.799. Second-round pick Conner Norby is hitting .188, going 3-for-16 his first five games of pro ball.

Soooo our ballpark has been changing colors tonight.
⚪️⚫️🟣🟠🌈 pic.twitter.com/HTyJyklQ73

-- Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) August 11, 2021

.@RutschmanAdley giving the people what they came for, hitting an RBI single in the bottom of the 6th for his first career Triple-A RBI and hit!

T7 | Norfolk 3, Memphis 0 pic.twitter.com/xcgSl7tX0X

-- Norfolk Tides (@NorfolkTides) August 11, 2021