Orioles take giant leap on road trip

SAN FRANCISCO - The dog days of August? Manager Buck Showalter would like to pose a question to anyone willing to do the research.

"Why not cat days?"

Well?

The Orioles begin a three-game series tonight in San Francisco, trading in a last-place opponent for one that's in first. Maybe they'll have better luck with a contender.

There will be a lot more witnesses at AT&T Park than Oakland Coliseum, where yesterday's paid attendance of 16,610 consisted mostly of Orioles fans and kids on a trip. You'd have to be tripping to consider the venues equal.

"This is a challenging place, because you have to be a self-starter here," Showalter said before yesterday's game. "There's not a whole lot ... It's different. That's one of the main challenges you face. You're going to have something different in San Francisco with the Giants. It's part of it."

The Orioles released their frustrations yesterday in a 9-6 victory over the A's. Frustrations that must have been buried deep, because there was scant evidence.

"Our guys are always like ducks - calm on the surface but paddling like heck underneath," Showalter said. "That's the world they live in. A club like ours when there's consistently doubters, you're not supposed to be doing this. I think they live in reality. Whether it's a tough-luck night where you hit a lot of balls hard or some night where you just don't hit at all. Some nights you don't pitch.

"Earlier in the year our hitting was doing a lot of things to overcome some of our challenges with our starting pitching. It's always going to be something. You're never going to have ... otherwise, you'd be 162-0 and it would get boring. But no, they've worked very hard to get a chance to play meaningful games the last two months of the season. I'm proud of them."

The Orioles are returning to San Francisco after winning two of three games in 2013. They also took two of three in 2002 and lost two of three in 2010.

Adam Jones was 5-for-12 with six RBIs in the 2013 series.

Dylan Bundy has allowed five runs and seven hits in his last three starts, with three walks and 24 strikeouts in 18 2/3 innings. It's time to let the kid hit.

Bundy is 2-1 with a 2.19 ERA and 0.973 WHIP in 37 home innings and 3-2 with a 4.18 ERA and 1.607 WHIP in 28 road innings. Left-handers are batting .231 and right-handers are batting .282.

Matt Cain is 4-6 with a 5.16 ERA and career-high 1.507 WHIP in 15 starts over 75 innings. However, he tossed five scoreless innings in each of his last two starts and didn't allow a hit on July 31 against the Nationals. He's walked seven batters in those 10 innings.

Left-handers are batting .326 against Cain and right-handers are batting .272.

Cain made one career start against the Orioles on Aug. 11, 2013 and allowed three runs and five hits over seven innings in a 10-2 loss. They scored nine runs over the last three innings and Troy Patton was credited with the win.

J.J. Hardy homered off Cain and Jones hit a three-run shot off Barry Zito in the ninth.

Henry Urrutia pinch-hit for starter Bud Norris and Alexi Casilla pinch-hit for Tommy Hunter. Seems so long ago.

Hardy is 5-for-17 with a double and two home runs off Cain. Mark Trumbo is 1-for-5 with a home run.

Yovani Gallardo is 2-for-9 with a home run, in case the game goes into extras and the bench thins out.

Donnie Hart will be recalled today from Double-A Bowie to give Showalter a second left-hander in the bullpen. Meanwhile, the Orioles continue to check on available lefty relievers.