masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgThe Orioles begin their final series of the year tonight hosting four games over three days against the defending World Series champion Houston Astros. The scheduled series opener was rained out last night.
Houston (100-58) lost at Toronto on Wednesday, but has clinched its second straight American League West championship. This is the third time in franchise history with 100 wins, topped only by teams in 2017 (101 wins) and 1998 (102 wins). Houston is the first team with back-to-back 100-win…

The Orioles begin their final series of the year tonight hosting four games over three days against the defending World Series champion Houston Astros. The scheduled series opener was rained out last night.

Houston (100-58) lost at Toronto on Wednesday, but has clinched its second straight American League West championship. This is the third time in franchise history with 100 wins, topped only by teams in 2017 (101 wins) and 1998 (102 wins). Houston is the first team with back-to-back 100-win seasons since the 2004-05 St. Louis Cardinals. The Astros will head to the playoffs and host the Cleveland Indians starting next Friday in a best-of-five American League Division Series.

Houston is 54-23 on the road and has won 12 of 14 and 19 of its last 25 road games. The Astros’ 54 road wins leads the majors.

The Astros’ run differential of plus-262 is tops in the major leagues by a wide margin (Boston at plus-229) and one of the highest in major league history. Currently, the Astros have the third-highest run differential of any club in the last 64 seasons. The two clubs ranking ahead in that span are the 1998 Yankees (plus-309) and the 2001 Mariners (plus-300).

Hess-Fires-White-sidebar.jpgRight-hander David Hess (3-10, 5.14 ERA) gets the start for the Orioles. On Saturday at New York, he allowed four hits and two runs in five innings in a no-decision at Yankee Stadium. In four September starts, he is 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA. In seven home games, Hess is 2-3 with a 5.01 ERA.

Right-hander Gerrit Cole (15-5, 2.92) will start the series opener for the Astros. He will make his 32nd start and the team is 23-8 when he gets the ball.

Cole has thrown 194 1/3 innings, allowing 63 walks with 272 strikeouts and a batting average against of just .197. Lefty batters hit .160 and right-handers bat .230 against Cole, who yields an average against of .176 with runners in scoring position.

Cole’s 272 strikeouts rank second in the AL behind only his teammate Justin Verlander (280). Cole leads the majors in strikeouts per nine innings (12.60) and is just one start away from setting a new single-season franchise record in that category, which is currently owned by Nolan Ryan in 1987 (11.48 per nine).

The Orioles scored 10 runs in the second game of Wednesday’s doubleheader in Boston without hitting a homer. The Orioles have hit one homer or less in 17 of the past 22 games.

In the last four games, O’s starters have pitched 6 2/3 innings, while the bullpen worked 27 1/3 innings. In the last nine games, O’s starters pitched 28 innings and the bullpen threw 51 1/3 innings.

On this date in 2000, the Orioles scored 10 runs in the fourth inning on their way to a 23-1 win over Toronto, the club record for most runs scored in a game. The O’s produced eight hits in the fourth inning to take a 16-0 lead. Left fielder Delino DeShields collected five RBIs, right fielder Brady Anderson drove in four and catcher Brook Fordyce added four hits to pace the O’s 23-hit offensive display.