O's game blog: The series opener at Oakland

As the Orioles play the Athletics in Oakland tonight, beginning a three-game series, they can only hope this trip there goes as well as the last one to Oakland. 

Last August, they won there by scores of 9-4. 7-2 and 12-1, outscoring the A's 28-7 in the series sweep. Their batters produced 42 hits and six homers in the series batting .350 with an OPS of 1.002. Their pitchers allowed just those seven runs with a 2.25 series ERA and .632 OPS against.

The Orioles have three straight wins at Oakland by five runs or more, and their longest streak of such games versus any opponent is four. They won four in a row by five runs or more at the White Sox (1969), Royals (2002-2003) and Red Sox (2004).

The Orioles went 6-1 against Oakland last year. But the Athletics have already topped that win total, going 2-1 in a series at Baltimore April 27-29. Oakland won the series opener 3-2 in 10 innings before a 7-0 O's win and Oakland's 7-6 victory in the series finale.

The Orioles lost 7-3 yesterday at Seattle but took two of three in that series. The Orioles are 19-6-3 in series for the season and are 8-3-2 in 13 road series. They have a road record of 26-15 and are 18-10 in series-opening games. 

The Orioles got three good starting pitching efforts in Seattle. Right-handers Grayson Rodriguez, Dean Kremer and Corbin Burnes combined to allow two runs and eight hits over 17 1/3 innings. Burnes has 12 quality starts his past 13 games with a 2.16 ERA in this stretch.

For the year, the Orioles lead the American League and rank second in the majors in rotation ERA:

3.05 - Philadelphia
3.28 - Orioles
3.46 - Seattle
3.52 - Kansas City

O's starting pitchers have allowed two earned runs or fewer seven times the past eight games, posting a 2.35 ERA in this span.

The Baltimore bullpen, though, allowed five runs in the seventh last night and gave up six runs in six innings the past two games. Over the last five games the bullpen ERA is 7.00.

The Orioles (55-32), who are 6-2 the last eight games, take a two-game lead atop the AL East into this weekend.

Since June 15, the Orioles have gained 5 1/2 games on New York. The O's have gone 10-8 in this span, while the Yankees are 4-13 with a minus-38 run differential and a 6.69 team ERA.

Gunnar Henderson on Thursday went 3-for-5 with a double and a home run after going 1-for-12 over the previous three days. In his past 14 games, Henderson is 21-for-57 and batting .368/.438/.719/1.157 with five doubles, five homers, 11 RBIs and seven multi-hit games.

The O's All-Star game starters, Adley Rutschman and Henderson, rank among the AL leaders in multi-hit games. Bobby Witt Jr. of Kansas City leads the league with 35 such games. Henderson and Rutschman are tied for fifth, each with 28 multi-hit games. Batting .289, Henderson ranks 12th in the AL in batting average, and Rutschman is 13th at .288.

Oakland (33-56) has the second-worst record in the AL, ahead of only Chicago, but the A's are coming off a three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Angels, winning by 5-0 scores the last two days. Before this sweep, Oakland had lost seven of eight games and was 4-17 its past 21 games.

The Athletics are 21-23 at home and 6-10 against the AL East. Oakland ranks 14th in the AL, scoring 3.63 runs per game, but fourth in homers with 102. Their 4.31 team ERA is 12th in the league, and their 4.87 rotation ERA is last in the AL and 26th in the major leagues.

Right-hander Albert Suárez (4-2, 2.43 ERA) will make his 11th start tonight for the Orioles. He is coming off an outing when he pitched six scoreless innings on three hits versus Texas. He had allowed eight runs in 8 2/3 his previous two games. Suárez has five scoreless starts for his season.

Lefty Hogan Harris (1-2, 3.18 ERA) starts for the home team. The Athletics are 2-4 in his starts but he pitched to a 3.20 ERA in five June starts. Opponents have an .876 OPS against him the first time through the order, .688 the second time and .764 the third.