O's game blog: Wrapping up the series in Detroit

The Orioles four games in four days series at Detroit, working around Friday's rainout with Saturday's doubleheader, wraps up this afternoon with the series finale.

A win by the Orioles would move them to 10 games over the .500 mark for the first time this year and they would also have won six straight series.

Since opening the year going 1-2 at Boston, 2-1 at Texas and 1-2 at home against the New York Yankees, the Orioles have not lost a series. They went 3-1 against Oakland, 2-1 at Chicago, 2-0 at Washington, 3-0 versus Detroit and 2-1 against Boston.

The series with Detroit (10-16) is the first of three series during a 10-game road trip, the longest of the year for the Orioles. The Orioles are 9-5 on the road and are 3-1 in road series. They can't lose this one but must get a victory today to win it and keep the series win streak going into Kansas City.

Right-hander Kyle Bradish (1-1, 6.30 ERA) will make his fourth start of the year. His last two have been very different. On April 19 at Washington he pitched six scoreless on five hits and 92 pitches. But on Tuesday versus Boston he gave up eight hits and seven runs in 2 1/3 innings at Oriole Park.

Right-hander Spencer Turnbull (1-3, 7.25 ERA) will make his sixth start for Detroit. He has thrown 22 1/3 innings on the season allowing 25 hits with 12 walks and 15 strikeouts. He has a 1.657 WHIP allowing 10.1 hits per nine with 0.8 homers to go, 4.8 walks per nine and 6.0 strikeouts per nine.

Despite the poor overall season numbers, Turnbull has thrown better recently. His ERA was 13.50 after two starts and his ERA is 3.77 over his past three. In that span, he gives up a .218 batting average against and .627 OPS. 

For the year lefty batters hit .294 off him with an OPS of .887 and right-handers bat .270/.750.

The Orioles made a roster move earlier today, recalling outfielder Kyle Stowers from Triple-A Norfolk and sending infielder Joey Ortiz back to the Tides.

In 17 Triple-A games, Stowers was batting .293/.427/.569/.996 with five homers and 17 RBIs. In a Friday doubleheader at Charlotte, he went 4-for-5 with three homers and four RBIs. He was inserted in the lineup right away today and is batting fourth and playing in right field. Ortiz went 2-for-8 with four RBIs in three games.

Detroit's Matt Vierling put together an impressive day at the plate in Saturday's doubleheader, going 4-for-7 with two doubles and four RBIs. All four of Vierling's RBIs came in the first game, establishing a single-game career high. Vierling has hit safely in five of his last seven games, over which he is hitting .455/.520/.591 with three doubles and four RBIs.

The Orioles and Tigers will play the final game of their season series today. The Orioles hold a 5-1 lead and will win the season series with Detroit for the first time since 2016.

The Orioles (18-9) begin today tied for second with Toronto in the AL East and 4.5 games behind Tampa Bay. New York is in fourth place and eight games out and Boston is in last place and nine games out.

The Orioles have won three of four, 10 of 12 and 14 of their last 18 games since April 10. 

Detroit is 5-6 at home, 3-11 in day games and 2-13 versus AL East teams.