O's game blog: O's host Houston in series opener

After losing two of three games to Toronto - and dropping the last two games after Friday's 7-1 win - the Orioles host Houston beginning tonight at Oriole Park. It is a three-game series to complete a six-game homestand. Then the Orioles will play the Blue Jays and Astros again on the road as part of a 10-game road trip that also includes a trip to Anaheim.

Tonight's game will not start on time as planned due to a rain delay, but the outlook for the rain to pass looks good for later this evening.

The game did begin shortly after 8 p.m.

Trey Mancini hit a pair of homers in Sunday's 7-4 loss. He hit his 13th and 14th of this year to take the team lead by one over Cedric Mullins and two over Ryan Mountcastle. And they marked No. 99 and No. 100 of his career. Mancini registered the ninth multi-home run game of his career and his second of the season, also connecting May 19 against Tampa Bay. It was the ninth individual multi-home run game by an O's batter this season and fourth of the weekend, following two such games by Mullins and Mountcastle's three-homer day on Saturday.

Mancini became the 28th player to hit at least 100 home runs in an Orioles uniform, and the first to reach the milestone since Chris Davis. In 531 games played, he became the fastest player to reach 100 career home runs when beginning a career with Baltimore.

The Orioles (23-48) have lost 10 of 11 overall, but are 6-5 in their past 11 home games. They are 12-23 at home for the season and now are 6-11 this month.

O's batters scored 18 runs and hit 11 homers in the weekend series with Toronto. They've scored 28 runs the last five games, hitting 14 home runs in that span. Baltimore pitchers have allowed 43 runs the last six games and 77 in the last 11. The team ERA is 7.34 in those 11 games.

The Houston Astros (43-28) are tied for first place in the American League West, but technically do lead the division by a few percentage points over Oakland with a .606 win percentage to .603 for the Athletics. Houston, to say the least, is playing good baseball right now. They have won seven in a row and just completed a four-game sweep of the AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox. They beat Chicago 8-2 on Sunday and outscored the White Sox 27-8 in that series. Impressive. It was Houston's third four-game sweep of the year and they had the others against Oakland and Texas.

The Astros are 11-2 in their last 13 games and 16-4 over the last 20. They are 36-18 since April 22. Houston has outscored its opponents 55-18 during the seven-game win streak, which is the longest current win streak in the major leagues. Houston is 14-7-2 in series play, winning its last six in a row. They have the best run differential in baseball at a plus-112. Houston is 31-17 against teams with a current winning record, and that is the best mark in baseball.

Left-hander Keegan Akin (0-2, 5.76 ERA) will make his fifth start and ninth outing tonight. He gave up eight hits and eight runs in 5 2/3 innings in his last start at Cleveland, throwing 96 pitches. Over 29 2/3 innings he has allowed 33 hits and four homers with 10 walks to 27 strikeouts. His WHIP is 1.449 and he gives up 10 hits per nine with a 3.0 walk rate and an 8.0 K rate. That is down from last year, when his strikeout rate was 12.3. The Orioles are 1-3 in his starts.

He is using his fastball 58 percent of the time at an average velocity of 91.6 mph. He throws his changeup 20 percent and slider 17 percent. Akin is getting a few more ground balls this year, recording a grounder rate up from 34.3 last year to 37.4. He is giving up a few less barrels, with that percentage down to 7.7 from 8.6 percent last season.

Right-hander Jake Odorizzi (1-3, 5.68 ERA), who faced the Orioles a lot when with Tampa Bay, gets the start against them tonight. He pitched in relief in his most recent outing Tuesday versus Texas, throwing four scoreless innings on two hits. For the season he has allowed 22 hits and five homers over 25 1/3 innings, with eight walks and 26 strikeouts. His WHIP is 1.184 and he has a 2.8 walk rate and K rate of 9.2.

Odorizzi is throwing his fastball 57 percent at 92.3 mph. He mixes in his changeup 16 percent, cutter 13 percent, and his slider usage is 10 percent.

In 20 games (19 starts) in his career against the Orioles he is 6-4 with a 4.17 ERA and 1.315 WHIP. O's batters have a .780 OPS against him, his third-highest versus any opponent.

The Orioles and Astros will face off against each other for the first time since Aug. 11, 2019. The O's went 2-4 against the Astros in 2019, going 1-2 in both home and road series, and the Orioles are 5-21 against Houston since the beginning of the 2016 season. Prior to then, the O's went 17-12 against the Astros since 2003. Infielder Freddy Galvis is a career .417/.523/.556 (15-for-36) hitter against Houston in 11 games.

The Orioles are batting .311/.367/.565 (108-for-347) as a team, with 23 home runs in 10 home games in June.