O's game blog: O's hosts Angels in series finale (rain delay at start)

The Orioles and Los Angeles Angels remain hopeful that they will play baseball today at Camden Yards, but rain has been falling through the day and the game will not start on time.

Shortly after 12 p.m. today the O's posted this via their Twitter account - "RAIN UPDATE: We are starting today's game vs. the Angels in a delay. We remain optimistic to be able to play baseball this afternoon. We are continuing to monitor weather reports and will share updates as we receive them."

After losses by the scores of 8-3 and 7-2, the Orioles need a win today to avoid being swept by the Angels. Their starters have thrown a combined 9 1/3 innings this weekend and O's batters have gone 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position.

The Orioles (13-26) have their fifth losing streak of exactly four games that they want to snap today. They have lost 10 of the last 13 games and with these two losses to the Angels, fall to 5-15 at Oriole Park.

The Angels (19-20) are now within a win of getting to the .500 mark. They are 10-4 the last 14 games and 11-2 over their past 13 games versus the Orioles.

O's lefty John Means (4-3, 2.48 ERA) is scheduled to make his sixth start in the series finale. He is coming off a great outing where the Orioles beat Boston 4-1 on Monday night. Means went seven innings on three hits and one run, with no walks and four strikeouts over 96 pitches. In two starts versus Boston batters this year, Means has held the Red Sox lineup to a .175 (7-for-40) average.

Means continues to throw his breaking balls more often as he gets more starts. From his first to his last start his changeup usage dropped from 41 to 30 percent, to 29, 27 and 26 percent against Boston. At the same time, his usage of his curve and slider has gone up from five and seven percent, to 15, 19 and 26 percent on Monday.

For the season Means has thrown 32 2/3 innings allowing 26 hits and four homers. His WHIP is 1.010 and he walks 1.9 batters per nine and fans 8.0/9.

The Orioles are 2-3 in his five starts and Means is 2-3 with a 2.88 ERA and WHIP of 1.000. In five games (three starts) at Oriole Park, he is 2-1 with a 1.56 ERA and 0.808 WHIP. He has given up just one homer in 17 1/3 innings at Camden Yards.

Right-hander Griffin Canning (1-0, 4.66 ERA) will make his third start after beginning the season at Triple-A, where he went 1-0 with an ERA of 0.56 in three starts. Canning is the Angels second-round pick in 2017 out of UCLA and was signed to a $1.46 million bonus. Baseball America ranked him as the No. 63 prospect in their winter top 100.

Canning throws his four-seam fastball 42 percent of the time at an average of 94.4 mph and uses his slider 35 percent, curveball 18 percent and changeup five percent. In his last start on Tuesday at Detroit he went 5 1/3 innings and gave up four hits and two runs on 86 pitches.