Saturday night baseball: Cleveland at Orioles

Game Preview Cleveland (57-71) at Orioles (53-76) After scoring three runs or less in 18 of 40 games in the second half, the Orioles offense broke out over the middle innings Friday night on the way to a 13-4 win over Cleveland. Tonight the clubs play game three of this four-game series with Chris Tillman (1-2, 4.58) facing Cleveland's Jeremy Sowers (5-9, 4.93). The Orioles had 15 hits and went 7 for 14 with runners in scoring position in their second highest scoring game of the year. The O's scored 16 on August 14 vs. Los Angeles. Matt Wieters had a career-high four RBI, Nick Markakis hit a three-run homer and Felix Pie homered with 3 RBI. The O's offense has produced ten or more hits four straight games and the O's are batting .319 with 28 runs scored over that stretch. The Orioles are 1-1 on this ten-game homestand and have won five of the last nine games. The O's pitching has made some strides recently as well. The team ERA is 3.53 over the last ten games and the starting pitchers ERA is 3.20 over the past eight games. Rookie pitchers have started 75 of the O's 129 games. The Orioles are 29-46 when a rookie starts this year. The four starters in this series have never before faced Cleveland. The Orioles are 16-16 this year vs. the AL Central, including a 9-6 mark at home. Cleveland, which has won eight of its last 12 series, is 3-2 on this ten-game road trip. The Tribe is 15-11 over its last 26 games and is 22-17 since the All-Star break. Asdrubal Cabrera is batting .372 over his last 21 games while Matt Laporta is hitting .343 with five doubles and 6 RBI during a nine-game batting streak. O's hitters average, when leading off an inning: Andino: .256 (11-43) Aubrey: .200 (1-5) Izturis: .231 (15-65) Jones: .255 (28-110) Markakis: .240 (18-75) Moeller: .385 (5-13) Mora: .256 (21-82) Pie: .250 (10-40) Reimold: .359 (23-64) Roberts: .259 (50-193) Scott: .225 (16-71) Wieters: .357 (20-56) Wigginton: .250 (19-76)