O's game blog: The series opener with the Texas Rangers

They ended the Orioles 2023 season in the American League Division Series with a three-game sweep. Tonight the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers come to Camden Yards to start a four-game set. The stakes are very different in a regular season game after Texas posted wins by 3-2, 11-8 and 7-1 over the Orioles to advance last October.

The teams are having very different seasons as well. The Orioles (50-30) will reach the season's halfway point tonight and are just one game behind the first-place Yankees in the American League East.

The Rangers, who also beat Tampa Bay before last year's AL Division Series and Houston and Arizona after it on their way to the title, are only 37-43 at the 80-game mark. They are in third in the AL West and 7 1/2 games behind division-leading Seattle.

Texas was just swept three straight at Milwaukee by 6-3, 3-1 and 6-5 scores. The Rangers have also lost eight of their past 12 games and are just 8-13 since June 3. The Rangers were 21-16 on May 7, but have gone 16-27 since that point.

The Rangers have also lost six in a row on the road, are 5-16 their past 21 road games and are just 4-10 their past 14 series, home and road.

A big difference from last year is that the Texas offense in 2024 is not nearly as productive as the 2023 version.

The Rangers led the AL last year, scoring 5.44 runs per game last year, and are eighth at 4.23 now.

The team batting line last year was .263/.337/.452/.790 and the Rangers ranked first in the AL in each stat category. At this point this season, the Texas team batting average of .237 ranks eighth in the AL. They are ninth in OBP (.306), 11th in slugging (.370) and 10th in team OPS (.676). 

Right-hander Corbin Burnes (8-3, 2.35 ERA) is on the mound for the Orioles tonight and (obviously, since he was with the Brewers last season) did not face the Rangers in the ALDS. In fact, Burnes has never pitched versus Texas.

When he gave up four runs over seven innings his last start at Houston, that ended a run of 10 straight quality starts for Burnes, two short of the O's team record set by Jim Palmer.

Burnes' 2.35 ERA is the 11th lowest for an Orioles starting pitcher through his first 16 starts to begin a season and the lowest since Jim Palmer in 1978 (1.81).

Over his past five starts, Burnes is 4-1 with a 1.85 ERA. Over his last 11 he is 5-3 with a 2.18 ERA and .580 OPS against. 

When he records his first out tonight, Burnes will hit the 100 innings mark for the 2024 season. His career high is 202 innings in 2022.

Burnes is two wins off the AL lead and ranks fifth in ERA. He is tied for sixth in the AL in innings, seventh in opponent OPS (.582) and ninth in WHIP (1.013).

Righty Jon Gray (3-3, 3.03 ERA) starts for Texas. He has thrown 71 1/3 innings for the season, allowing just five homers with a 1.234 WHIP, a 2.4 walk rate and 8.6 K rate.

Two starts ago he allowed nine runs in three innings against the Mets, but has also allowed zero or one earned run in nine of his 13 starts. Gray, who did not face the Orioles in the ALDS, is 2-2 with a 2.91 ERA in four career starts versus Baltimore.

At 50-30 (.625), the Birds own the fourth-best record in the major leagues, behind the Yankees (.634, 52-30), Guardians (.654, 51-27) and Phillies (.663, 53-27). Since the start of 2023, Baltimore is 151-91 (.624), the best winning percentage, and tied for the most wins in the majors with the Dodgers. The O's are 234-170 (.579) since the start of 2022, the second-best record in the AL and fourth-best in the bigs behind the Astros (.584, 236-168), Braves (.619, 249-153) and Dodgers (.645, 262-144).

During their five-game losing streak the Orioles allowed 40 runs. Last night they gave up two runs. They've allowed two or fewer 28 times so far this season. They are 27-1 in those games.