masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgIt’s back to baseball tonight for the Orioles, who begin a 10-game West Coast trip against the Athletics.
Should Manny Machado expect a warm reception from Oakland fans? Probably not. But they may want to go easy on him. He’s been a beast since his confrontation with Josh Donaldson and the bat-tossing incident. The only cool-down period came during his five-game suspension.
Machado has reached base safely in 16 straight games since June 22 (.410/.455/.721), which is tied for his career-best…

It’s back to baseball tonight for the Orioles, who begin a 10-game West Coast trip against the Athletics.

Should Manny Machado expect a warm reception from Oakland fans? Probably not. But they may want to go easy on him. He’s been a beast since his confrontation with Josh Donaldson and the bat-tossing incident. The only cool-down period came during his five-game suspension.

Machado has reached base safely in 16 straight games since June 22 (.410/.455/.721), which is tied for his career-best streak. In his last 36 games since May 31, he’s batting .317 /.362/.532 to lift his season average from .210 to .270.

Chris Tillman takes the mound tonight and he’s 1-0 with a 1.96 ERA in three career starts versus the A’s, with 18 strikeouts in 18 1/3 innings.

Tillman has allowed three earned runs and 13 hits in 10 1/3 innings in Oakland, where the Orioles have lost 35 of their last 49 games, including 17 of 23. Must be all that foul territory.

Donaldson is 3-for-6 with a double and two RBIs against Tillman. Yoenis Cespedes is 0-for-3 with three strikeouts.

Don’t read too much into it, but Tillman has a career 5.93 ERA in six starts with Caleb Joseph behind the plate, a 3.93 ERA in five starts with Nick Hundley and a 3.60 ERA in four starts with Steve Clevenger.

The Orioles are carrying three catchers until recalling Bud Norris and Miguel Gonzalez from the minors. They also took reliever Preston Guilmet to Oakland.

The Orioles took three of four in Oakland last season. They scored 10 runs in the series opener, their highest total there since May 23, 2002. They won the season series (5-2) for the first time since 1998.

The Orioles own the highest in-division winning percentage (26-18, .591 against American League East) in the AL. The Tigers and A’s are tied for second at 22-16 (.579) against the AL Central and AL West, respectively.

Taking a look at more numbers heading into the second half, the Orioles are 26-19 on the road, 38-23 at night, 14-19 during the day, 17-14 in the first game of a series, 38-5 when leading after seven innings, 42-3 when leading after the eighth, 2-35 when trailing after the eighth, 35-9 when scoring first, 43-22 when homering, 36-21 when they don’t commit an error, 11-6 against the AL West and 9-14 against the AL Central.

Adam Jones has hit 153 home runs as an Oriole, putting him five behind Melvin Mora for ninth place on the franchise’s all-time list. He has 83 career homers at Camden Yards, fifth on the list behind Rafael Palmeiro (124), Brady Anderson (91), Mora (89) and Cal Ripken Jr. (85).

In 33 games since June 9, the Orioles rotation has posted a 3.18 ERA and lowered its season ERA from 4.61 to 4.09.

The Orioles hit 114 home runs in the first half and trail only the Blue Jays (116) for the major league lead. They’re on pace to finish with 196.

Since June 1, the Orioles have hit a major league-leading 60 home runs, 16 more than the runner-up Astros and Tigers.

The Orioles have turned 104 double plays to lead the majors, seven more than the Giants.