O's game blog: O's looking for a four-game sweep in series finale

A great homestand marked by close wins and walk-off wins comes to an end for the Orioles today. They are looking to complete it with back-to-back series sweeps and without a loss. They can do that with a victory this afternoon over the Los Angeles Angels.

The Orioles swept three from Texas to begin the homestand and have beaten the Angels by 4-1 Thursday, by 5-4 with Friday’s ninth-inning rally and by 1-0 on Saturday afternoon. Today they go for their first four-game sweep since July 17-20, 2017 versus Texas.

The Orioles' win Saturday gave the team a seven-game win streak for the first time since Aug. 23-30, 2017. The last time the Orioles won eight games in a row was when the team won 12 in a row from Sept. 30, 2015 to April 12, 2016 and the last time they won eight in a row in a single season was April 22 to May 1, 2005. 

With the win Saturday, the Orioles have clinched this series win, and they've matched last year’s series win total barely past the halfway point of the 2022 season. The club went 12-32-8 in series last year and is 12-11-14 this season.

The Orioles are now 24-17 at home and are 11-3 in the last 14 home games. As they try for a perfect homestand today they have already surpassed last year’s series win total at home. They went 5-15-6 in home series in 2021 and are 8-4-2 this season.

Saturday the Orioles recorded their eighth shutout win of the season and their third in the last 17 games. In 2021 they had five shutouts all season. Saturday was the club’s third 1-0 win of the year. They won by the same score on April 20 at Oakland and on June 17 at home versus Tampa Bay.

Right-hander Dean Kremer pitched five scoreless innings yesterday and tied his career high with seven strikeouts. He allowed two singles and three walks and the Orioles improved to 5-2 in his seven starts.

O's pitchers have posted a 2.57 ERA over the past 22 games, while allowing two runs or fewer in 13 of those games, going 12-1 on those occasions.

The pitching staff has allowed just six runs the past four games, 49 in the last 17 and 62 runs in the O’s last 22 games.

The O’s starting pitchers continue to excel. Saturday’s outing was the 16^th in the last 22 games when the O’s starter allowed one earned run or none. The rotation ERA is 2.50 in that span.

The Orioles' seven-game win streak has featured five wins by a single run, two in extra innings and three via walk-off. They have won the seven games by 10 total runs. They have outscored their opponents 32-22 in the win streak.

The Birds are 12-5 the last 17 games, 18-9 over 27 and 28-20 since May 19. They are 35-30 since May 1.

The O’s bullpen of Bruce Zimmermann, Joey Krehbiel, Félix Bautista and Jorge López combined for four shutout innings, with Lopez picking up his 16^th save. In the eighth, Bautista fanned both Mike Trout and Taylor Ward looking at 100 mph fastballs. The Baltimore bullpen has allowed one or zero runs 51 times this season. In this series the O’s pen has allowed one run over 12 innings.

Right fielder Anthony Santander drove in the lone run of the game with a single in the fourth inning that plated DH Ryan Mountcastle. Santander’s 42 RBIs rank third on the team, and he has recorded four multi-hit efforts in his last six games, batting .333/.385/.417 (8-for-24) with two doubles, two runs scored, two RBIs, and two walks during this span.

O’s first baseman Trey Mancini extended his hitting streak to eight games with a single in the sixth inning and is batting .303/.343/.424 (10-for-33) with one double, a homer, two runs, four RBIs, one walk, and one hit-by-pitch during his current streak, which is one game shy of his season-high nine-game hitting streak from May.

Toronto currently holds the sixth American League playoff spot:

Toronto, 45-41
Seattle, 44-42, 1 GB
Cleveland, 41-41, 2 GB
Baltimore, 42-22, 3 GB