O's game blog: Trying to avoid a sweep in the Houston series finale

The Orioles have not been swept in a series this year and will need a win this afternoon at Oriole Park to avoid that fate against the Houston Astros.

Houston rallied in the ninth to beat the Orioles 7-6 Tuesday night. Last night they scored three early runs and five late for an 8-2 win. 

In 18 innings this series, the Orioles staff has allowed 21 hits and 15 runs with nine walks and 20 strikeouts.

Coming into this series the O's team ERA was 2.15 during a 7-1 run. And it was 3.23 as they had won 21 of the previous 28 games.

But Houston has put up seven runs and eight runs in winning the first two games, and the Astros scored 10 runs in seven innings of work by the Baltimore bullpen.

The Orioles have gone 75 straight series without being swept, but that run could end today. Five times this year the O's lost the first two games of a series only to win the third game and avoid being swept. They did that against Texas, Milwaukee, the Chicago Cubs, Minnesota and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Right-hander Jacob Webb made his first appearance for the Orioles and struck out the side in the sixth inning Wednesday night. It marked the first time an Orioles reliever struck out all three batters he faced in an inning during his team debut since Al Reyes in the eighth inning on July 25, 1999 versus the Angels. Webb threw 15 pitches, nine for strikes.

Left fielder Austin Hays blasted a two-run homer in the fourth inning, his 10th on the year and first since July 9 at Minnesota. The homer, which brought the O's within 3-2 on the scoreboard, was hit 399 feet with an exit velocity of 104 mph.

Catcher Adley Rutschman tripled to lead off the bottom of the first, his first three-bagger since his first career hit in his big league debut on May 21, 2022 against Tampa Bay. This marked Baltimore’s first leadoff triple since Cedric Mullins did so on July 29, 2021 at Detroit.

Baltimore DH Ryan Mountcastle extended his season-long hitting streak to 11 games after singling in the fourth inning. Mountcastle is batting .474 (18-for-38) during his streak. And he has now reached safely in 16 straight games, one shy of a career-high 17-game on-base streak from July 28 to Aug. 26, 2021.

The Orioles (70-44) still lead the American League East by two games. Even with the losses this series, they have won seven of 10, 11 of 17 and 21 of their past 30 games. They are 16-9 in the second half.

Houston (66-49) has won seven of nine and 14 of the last 20 games. 

Astros manager Dusty Baker earned his 2,159th career managerial win, surpassing Bucky Harris (2,158) for the seventh-most managerial wins in major league history.

Astros right fielder Kyle Tucker slugged his 21st home run of the season, a two-run shot in the first inning. He has homered in back-to-back games for the second time this season (he also did it April 4-5 versus Detroit). His 28 RBIs since the All-Star break are the most in the American League as of the end of last night's game.

Right-hander Dean Kremer (10-4, 4.61 ERA) gets the start today, his 24th of the year. The Orioles are a strong 17-6 in his outings, winning the last six started by Kremer.

In those six games he is 2-0 with a 3.44 ERA and .182 average against. Kremer has 10 quality starts for the season.

Right-hander Hunter Brown (8-7, 4.07 ERA) starts for Houston. They are 12-9 in his starts. He has allowed exactly two earned runs in three consecutive games, going 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA in that span.