Tonight's game and roster moves, Bleier's been best and more

A win tonight in Anaheim will allow the Orioles to equal their longest streak of the season. If anyone regards back-to-back victories as constituting a streak.

The Cambridge Dictionary defines "streak" as:

A mark of a color that is different from what surrounds it, or a thin strip of light.

Doesn't seem like a fit here. Let's keep going.

An obvious characteristic in a personality.

Strike two.

A period during which a series of things happens.

We're getting there.

A short period of good or bad luck.

There you go. It can be short.

Something that happens or is done over a period of time without a break.

The off-day might qualify as a break, but a win tonight still makes it two in a row. Let's not quibble.

The Orioles lost eight of nine road series against the Angels before 2013. They went 1-2 last summer.

Alex Cobb has made six career starts against the Angels and registered a 5.35 ERA and 1.528 WHIP over 35 1/3 innings. Ten walks and only 19 strikeouts. He's gone 2-1 with a 4.94 ERA and 1.521 WHIP in four starts at Angel Stadium.

Mike Trout is 7-for-12 with two home runs against Cobb. Albert Pujols is 7-for-12 with one double and one home run.

Cobb will make his fourth attempt to impress since signing his four-year, $57 million contract. He's allowed 17 earned runs (20 total) and 30 hits in 11 2/3 innings. He hasn't made it through the fifth.

Shohei Ohtani was supposed to start tonight before spraining his left ankle. He's been replaced by right-hander Nick Tropeano, who's 1-2 with a 4.67 ERA and 1.385 WHIP in three starts.

Right-handers are batting .182 against Tropeano and left-handers are hitting .367. In 28 career games, right-handers hit .254 and left-handers .277.

Tropeano missed last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He made his only start against the Orioles on July 9, 2016 in Baltimore and held them to one run with one walk and eight strikeouts over six innings.

Mark Trumbo will be activated from the disabled list today and make his season debut. He's 1-for-5 with a home run lifetime against Tropeano. Luis Sardiñas will go on the disabled list with lower-back soreness and Engelb Vielma, who wasn't in Triple-A Norfolk's lineup last night, will be recalled.

How will Trumbo's arrival impact Pedro Álvarez, who's hit multiple home runs in two of his last three games? He's platooned at designated hitter before starting at third base Sunday as Danny Valencia's replacement.

Álvarez was a career .199 hitter in March/April before Sunday, when he homered twice and raised his season average to .237 His previous high average for March/April was .224 in 2015 and 2016. And he's already drawn 11 walks in 70 plate appearances. His career high is 57 in 586 plate appearances in 2012.

"I just always trust in myself and in my abilities, no matter the situation, no matter if I'm going well or not going well," he said. "Like I've said many times before, you can't control the results and you can't control that I've had four home runs in three games. At the same token, you can't sometimes control the 0-fers. But I try to put myself in the best position to succeed every time I (see) a pitch.

"I've been fortunate enough to be able to do that consistently over the last couple days and when you can do that consistently, over and over, you'll get the results over time. That's all I plan on doing. Just give myself the best chance to succeed pitch to pitch."

* Left-hander Richard Bleier has been the club's best reliever with a 0.54 ERA and 0.840 WHIP in 12 appearances and his responsibilities continue to grow while the numbers shrink. One run allowed in 16 2/3 innings. Only three walks issued, one intentional.

Right-handers are 5-for-35 against Bleier, allowing manager Buck Showalter to use him in any situation.

In his most recent appearance, Bleier retired all three batters he faced on ground balls in the bottom of the eighth inning. A typical outing that doesn't get him much recognition outside of Baltimore.

With previous ERAs of 1.96 and 1.99, Bleier has earned greater attention from fans and the media. But if he flew any lower beneath the radar, he'd lose three layers of skin on his belly.

"Because he's not that Andrew Miller 96-96 mph with a big breaking ball, but Richard knows who he is and who he isn't," Showalter said. "You can see his confidence grow. I think he gets a lot of confidence from the confidence we have in him.

"Richard can defend himself. I think he's kind of figured out who he is. He's added a pitch. Going into last year, Roger (McDowell) and him really wanted to take his game to another level because he has a presentation that's very hard to see the ball off of. And he can change direction with the ball and make it go east and west on both sides.

"You can just tell that he's pitching with a lot of confidence and staying in the strike zone and there's not a lot of good comfortable hacks off him."

Bleier was warming in the ninth inning Sunday afternoon with the Orioles leading 5-3. He's entered games in the 11th, the ninth twice and the eighth. He's gone at least one full inning in 10 of his appearances, with three scoreless frames on April 8 at Yankee Stadium and 2 1/3 on April 15 at Fenway Park.

"I'm sure I had a pretty decent stretch before. I think it was just in a different role, so it kind of went unnoticed," Bleier said. "It wasn't in the kind of games I'm pitching in now. But I have good games and bad games pitch execution-wise. I think luck has a lot to do with it. Things could go a lot different, but guys are making great plays behind me.

"Just making pitches when I need to. Guys on base, making pitches, finishing the inning in terms of runners in scoring position and two outs. Making sure I finish an inning as opposed to letting it get out of control. Obviously, things are going well for me, but it's pretty irrelevant as the team's not doing well. But I'm sure it will all even out."

Bleier said he hasn't made any significant adjustments.

"I just have maybe another year to build off of," he said. "Every time I pitch, I think you learn a little more about how to pitch at the major league level and I'm still learning as I go, what works and what doesn't work. I think it's just a confidence thing, as well. Every time you put up a zero, you just prove to yourself that you can do it one more time. I think the more I go the better I'll get, I guess, in terms of confidence and stuff like that.

"As far as results, who knows? You never know. But for me it's all about pitch execution and having a plan and executing that plan. And if I feel like I'm executing my pitches more than I'm not, I think I'll be OK in the long run."

Showalter and his staff clearly trust Bleier and, as the manager has noted, that confidence fuels the man who's handed the ball.

An April 20 game against the Indians serves as an ideal example, when he stayed on the mound in the eighth beyond a left-on-left matchup with Michael Brantley. No sign of Showalter, who remained in the dugout and let the inning play out. No sign of right-handed relievers Brad Brach, Darren O'Day or Mychal Givens.

Bleier responded with a second scoreless inning to get credited with a hold in a 3-1 win.

"It just seemed like it kind of started to happen," Bleier said. "I remember I went back out for the second inning against Cleveland and I was like, 'OK, I'll get Brantley and then one of those (relievers) will come in and that will be that.' It will be 1 1/3 innings. And then (Edwin) Encarnacion walks up and I remember Tim (Beckham) was playing third and I'm like, 'Is (Showalter) coming?' And he's like, 'What?' I look back and I'm like, 'Wow, he's not coming. This is my inning.'

"Those guys obviously do a great job. There's no doubt about it. Darren, Brad and Mike have way more of a track record, way better than I am, but I think there were a few different things that played a role in it. But still, knowing that I'm allowed to pitch to righties and lefties is definitely a confidence builder.

* Former Orioles right-hander Steve Johnson, the Baltimore native and son of former pitcher and current MASN analyst Dave Johnson, will make his debut tonight with the Lancaster Barnstormers of the independent Atlantic League. He signed on April 2.

Johnson hasn't pitched in the majors since making 16 appearances with the Mariners 2016, the last coming on June 14. He allowed one run and struck out 15 batters over 11 1/3 innings in May.

The Orioles signed Johnson to a minor league deal in spring 2017 and he made 19 appearances at Norfolk before the White Sox purchased his contract on Aug. 9.

The Barnstormers are expected to use Johnson as a starter.

* Catcher Yojhan Quevedo, recovered from surgery to remove a broken hamate bone, is joining Single-A Frederick.

Quevedo signed a minor league deal in November. He's a career .268/.312/.369 hitter in 338 minor league games in the Mariners organization.