Orioles notes on Machado, Davis, Hammel and more (updated)

The good teams seem to avoid long losing streaks and the Orioles will try to avoid having a three-gamer tonight. Prior to last night, the Birds had not lost back-to-back games since losing three in a row April 6-8. The 2013 Orioles are 7-2 after a loss. Some other notes on the Orioles: * Manny Machado is batting .412 (14-for-34) during an eight-game batting streak with three doubles, a triple and five RBIs. He has raised his average from .250 to .300 during this stretch. Machado is 7-for-13 over the last three games and has nine RBIs over his last 10 games. With a hit tonight, Machado would tie Andres Mora (April 27-May 22, 1976) and Boog Powell (July 24-August 1, 1962) for the longest hit streak by an Oriole younger than 21 years old. Machado's current eight-game hitting streak is tied with Powell (also May 13-20, 1962) and Wayne Causey (June 25-July 10, 1955) for the third-longest streak before the age of 21 in Orioles history. That according to O's PR and Elias. Orioles extra-base hits leaders: 17 - Chris Davis 14 - Adam Jones 12 - Manny Machado * Chris Davis has hit two homers over the last five games and three over his last 10. He has 16 homers over his last 33 regular-season games and has hit 41 over his past 150 games since last April 25. * The Orioles did not have an at-bat with runners in scoring position Monday against Joe Saunders. The Orioles had two games in 2012 where they did not have an at-bat with RISP: R.A. Dickey's one-hitter June 18 and James Shields' two-hitter on October 2. Over the last 12 games (since April 18), the Orioles are batting a major league-best .370 (37-100) with runners in scoring position, raising the team season average from .224 to .295. * Tonight's starter, Jason Hammel, is 3-0 with an ERA of 2.50 in three road starts. Hammel has pitched six innings or more in all five of his 2013 starts and the Orioles are 4-1 in those games. * Seattle's starter is 22-year-old rookie right-hander Brandon Maurer, who is 2-3 with an ERA of 5.61 in five starts. He had an ERA of 16.20 in his first two starts and it is 1.89 over his last three. Maurer moved up from Double-A where he was the 2012 Southern League's Most Outstanding Pitcher, going 9-2 with a 3.20 ERA in 24 starts. Update: Well, Manny extended his hitting streak and tied Mora and the Booger. Never thought I'd see those three names in the same sentence. Machado's double was part of a four-run first for the Orioles which featured a leadoff homer by Nate McLouth as his bat stayed hot and a Matt Wieters' two-run double as he tries to get his bat heated up. A strong start for the O's who lead 4-0 in the fourth. Hammel needed 40 pitches to get through the first two frames, stranding a total of four Mariners, but threw just 10 in the third.