masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgWhen the Milwaukee Brewers blanked the Orioles 4-0 last night at Miller Park, they became the fifth team this year to sweep three straight from Baltimore. Tonight the Orioles face one of the previous four. They’ve also been swept by the Royals, Astros, Yankees and Twins.
The Orioles (40-44) begin a four-game series tonight at Minnesota (43-41). It’s the final series before the All-Star break.
Right-hander Dylan Bundy (8-7, 4.02 ERA) will make his 18th start for the Orioles. After pitching…

When the Milwaukee Brewers blanked the Orioles 4-0 last night at Miller Park, they became the fifth team this year to sweep three straight from Baltimore. Tonight the Orioles face one of the previous four. They’ve also been swept by the Royals, Astros, Yankees and Twins.

The Orioles (40-44) begin a four-game series tonight at Minnesota (43-41). It’s the final series before the All-Star break.

dylan-bundy-white-side.jpgRight-hander Dylan Bundy (8-7, 4.02 ERA) will make his 18th start for the Orioles. After pitching five innings or less just once in his first 13 starts, Bundy has done that three times in his past four starts.

In those four games, he is 2-2 with a 7.97 ERA, allowing 18 earned runs and seven homers over 20 1/3 innings. In his first 13 starts, Bundy was 6-5 with a 3.05 ERA.

Right-hander José Berríos, 23, gets the start for Minnesota. He is 7-2 with an ERA of 3.44 in 10 starts. Over 65 1/3 he has allowed 51 hits with 19 walks and 65 strikeouts.

He has allowed nine runs over 11 1/3 in his past two starts, raising his ERA from 2.67. He has thrown six or more innings seven times in 10 starts after doing so last year just one time in 14 starts. Berríos is 3-1 with a 2.51 ERA in four home starts without allowing a homer in 28 2/3. He faced the Orioles May 24 and got the win in Baltimore. Over 6 1/3 innings he gave up four hits and three runs.

Berríos averages 94 mph on his four-seam fastball velocity. He has thrown his four-seamer 38 percent of the time and his two-seam sinking fastball 24 percent. He throws a curveball 29 percent and a changeup on nine percent of his pitches.

Berríos was ranked among Baseball America’s top 100 prospects twice. He was No. 36 at the end of the 2014 season and No. 28 after 2015. Four times between 2012 and 2015 he was ranked among the Twins’ top seven prospects.

The Orioles offense produced just three runs and 22 hits in the three games at Milwaukee. Over the last nine games, the Orioles team batting average is .205 and they have scored three runs or less seven times, scoring 22 total runs.

Minnesota swept three from the Orioles in May at Camden Yards by a combined 20-10 score. The Orioles went 0-7 versus the Twins in 2015 and 5-1 last season.