O's game blog: Looking for a series win in the road season finale

The Orioles have four games left in the 2022 season as they continue to seek at least one more win to achieve their first winning season since going 89-73 in 2016.

Today they play the final road game of this series and road trip, and the final road game of the season. They can win the series with a victory today. They are 2-4 on this road trip and 37-43 on the season in road games. They are 10-13-2 in their road series this year.

The Orioles beat the Yankees 2-1 on Friday night, holding New York to four hits as Jordan Lyles pitched seven innings and the O’s got one each from Félix Bautista and DL Hall, who recorded his first MLB save. But Saturday, the Orioles were held to three hits in an 8-0 loss to New York.

The Orioles were shutout for the second time in 13 games, the fourth in 26 games, the 11^th time on the season and the third time by the Yankees, who also pitched shutouts against Baltimore on May 25 and July 24.

New York pitchers recorded their 16th shutout of the season. The game marked just the second time in the last 44 seasons, since 1979, that the Yankees have recorded as many shutouts in a year. They also had 16 in 1998. Yankees batters homered twice Saturday and they lead MLB with 246 home runs. That number is their third-most in a single season in franchise history, trailing only the 306 in 2019 and 267 in 2018.

Aaron Judge remains at 61 homers, tied with Roger Maris in 1961 for the American League single-season record. He has gone 1-for-4 this series with four walks, a hit by pitch and three strikeouts. His only hit was a single in the third inning on Friday. Judge has hit nine homers this year off Baltimore pitching.

Judge reached base three times Saturday, extending his season-high on-base streak to 29 games. He’s reached base multiple times in 25 of those 29 games, batting .411/.571/.874 (39-for-95) with 30 runs, eight doubles, 12 home runs, 36 walks, 10 intentional walks and 21 RBIs. Judge has reached base at least three times in a Major League-leading 50 games. He has multiple walks in four of his last five games, collecting 11 in that span and has walked in seven straight games, recording 13 in that time. He’s walked in 15 of his last 16 games, collecting 23 in that span.

The Orioles could finish with as many as 85 wins if they ended the year going 4-0. But after the loss yesterday, they have lost four of their past five, six of eight and 10 of 16 games. They are 10-16 the last 26 games and are 13-16 since Sept. 1.

The Orioles are 31-39 versus AL East opponents and 6-12 against the Yankees, including a 2-6 record at Yankee Stadium. New York is 11-4 in its last 15 games with the Orioles and 22-8 versus Baltimore since the 2019 season.

Right-hander Kyle Bradish will make his 23rd start after allowing seven runs in his last game over 2 1/3 innings versus Boston on Tuesday night. Bradish is 3-3 with a 3.53 ERA in 12 starts since returning from the injured list in late July. He faced the Yankees once this season, on May 16 in Baltimore, and gave up four runs over 4 1/3 innings.

Right-hander Chi Chi González (0-1, 6.87 ERA) will start and make his Yankees debut today after they signed him Aug. 30 as a free agent. He began the year with the Twins after signing in March. Then he went to Milwaukee June 14 via waivers and they granted him free agency July 16. Three days later, Detroit signed him and about a month later they released him. Now he is with his fourth team of the year. His last MLB game was July 10 for Milwaukee when he pitched 1/3 of an inning against Pittsburgh, allowing two runs.