O's game blog: The road trip begins in the series opener at Wrigley Field

CHICAGO – The Orioles enjoyed a successful homestand, going 5-1 against Kansas City and Toronto. They swept the Royals and took two of three from Toronto, winning a fifth straight American League East series.

The Orioles lost their first two AL East series of this year, but have now gone 11-4 in winning their last five. They beat Toronto 4-2 Thursday to win the rubber-match game and improve to 43-25.

The Orioles are 5-1 this season versus Toronto by a combined 36-21 score. They are 14-11 against the Blue Jays since the start of the 2022 season.

The Orioles are now 8-4 in June and they are 9-5 in 14 games since Cedric Mullins got injured.

In winning six of their past seven games overall, the Orioles have scored 42 runs, producing hits in double digits five times in that span.

Orioles pitching allowed just six runs against Kansas City and 11 versus Toronto. They have allowed 20 runs over their past seven games.

Baltimore starting pitchers have four consecutive quality starts, pitching to a 2.77 ERA in that span.

Lefty Cole Irvin is on the mound in today's opener of the series and road trip at Chicago’s Wrigley Field. Irvin (1-2, 7.85 ERA) will make his fifth start. After pitching to a 10.66 ERA his first three starts he was sent to Triple-A, returned for a few days and then came back again to make Saturday’s start against the Royals. He got the 6-1 win, allowing one run and six hits over 5 1/3 innings on 72 pitches.

Irvin is 0-1 with a 13.50 ERA in one career start against the Chicago Cubs. He is 4-4 with a 6.56 ERA in 24 career games against National League opponents.

Right-hander Kyle Hendricks (1-2, 3.09 ERA) will make his fifth start of the year for the home team. He began this season on the injured list while recovering from a capsular tear in his right shoulder. He made five Triple-A rehab outings with a 5.75 ERA before his first Cubs start this year on May 25.

But on Saturday, in his most recent outing, he had a no-hitter through seven and allowed one hit over eight scoreless innings in a 4-0 win over San Francisco.

Hendricks, who has a 1.071 WHIP in 23 1/3 innings, finished ninth for the Cy Young Award in 2020 and was third in 2016. That was the year the Cubs won the World Series and current O’s skipper Brandon Hyde was their first base coach.

In one career outing against the Orioles on Aug. 23, 2014, Hendricks gave up two runs over two innings. He is 0-1 with a 3.67 ERA in seven career games against AL East opposition.

The Cubs (31-37) completed a three-game sweep of National League Central-leading Pittsburgh with last night's 7-2 win at Wrigley. Chicago scored 10 or more runs in consecutive games in the same series in the series' first two games since doing so in each contest of a three-game set vs. Pittsburgh Sept. 13-15, 2019. The Cubs have won eight of their past nine against the Pirates dating to July 25, 2022.

The Cubs have won five of their past six games after suffering a three-game sweep in Anaheim against the Angels last week. Chicago is two games over .500 in its last 16 games since May 29, going 9-7. The Cubs are 15-7 in series-opening games. The Orioles are 16-6 in series openers.

Cubs starting pitchers have posted a 3.92 ERA (158 ER/362.1 IP) this season, the second-best mark among NL starting rotations and sixth-best in the majors.