O's game blog: Ubaldo Jimenez on mound in homestand finale

As the Orioles host Detroit this afternoon in the final game of this series and homestand, their bats have finally started to heat up.

In this three-game series against the Tigers, the Orioles have scored 22 runs on 31 hits with a .298 average. They have hit six homers in the series and have hit two in a game the last five games.

The Orioles have now scored 43 runs over their last eight games, scoring five or more in a game six times in that span.

Some O's hitters recently:

* Matt Wieters extended his hitting streak to a season-high five games (.529/.556/.882) after going 2-for-4 with a double and RBI last night. He is 9-for-17 in that stretch.

* J.J. Hardy extended his hitting streak to a season-high 15 games (.291/.310/.310) after going 1-for-4 with a run scored. It is his longest hitting streak since a 16-game stretch, June 11-July 4, 2008. Hardy's 15-game hitting streak is the longest hitting streak by an Oriole this season.

* Manny Machado has gone 4-for-7 the last two games, with two homers, three RBIs and four runs. Machado has now hit 12 homers over his past 40 games, a pace for 48 homers over a full season.

* Over his last 11 games, Chris Davis is batting .293 (12-for-41) with six homers and 18 RBIs.

* Over his last 16 games, Adam Jones is batting .328 (22-for-67) with nine multi-hit games, three doubles, five homers and nine RBIs.

The Orioles are 4-2 against the Tigers this year, and they have a team slash line of .302/.362/.479 in those games. They've hit nine homers and scored 37 runs while Detroit pitching has an ERA of 6.06 against the Orioles.

Jones is batting .423 (11-for-26) with three homers and six RBIs versus the Tigers. Machado is hitting .391 (9-for-23) with three homers and six RBIs. Wieters and Jonathan Schoop are each hitting .348 versus Tigers pitching.

On the mound this afternoon, Ubaldo Jimenez (8-6, 3.73 ERA) makes his 21st start of the season against left-hander Daniel Norris (1-1, 3.86 ERA), who will be making his first start for his new team. He was acquired by the Tigers on Friday in the David Price trade with Toronto.

Jimenez ended the first half of the season with a 0.45 ERA over his last three starts. He then started the second half by giving up 14 runs in seven innings over two starts at Detroit and New York. He bounced back from that Tuesday against Atlanta. He went seven innings, allowing just four hits and two runs in that outing.

While Jimenez has a road ERA of 5.25 this year, he is 6-1 with a 2.13 ERA in eight home starts in 2015. In 18 career starts versus Detroit, he is 5-10 with a 5.33 ERA.

Norris spent most of this year at Triple-A Buffalo, going 3-10 with a 4.27 ERA in 16 starts. Norris pitched in the majors in April for Toronto, allowing 23 hits in 23 1/3 innings.

A note from the Orioles minors: Pitchers Elih Villanueva and Terry Doyle are expected to move from Double-A Bowie to Triple-A Norfolk for their next starts. With Tyler Wilson likely starting for the Orioles on Monday night and Zach Davies traded, there were two openings in the Norfolk rotation. Left-hander Chris Lee is expected to move from Single-A Frederick to the rotation at Bowie. Reliever Richard Rodriguez is also moving from Bowie to Norfolk.