O's game blog: The Orioles play series opener at Houston

The Orioles begin a four-game series in Houston tonight against the Astros, who are 22-32, in last place in the American League West and have the worst record in the AL. But that doesn't tell the whole story. Houston has started to score plenty of runs and win games. The Astros have won five in a row, outscoring their opponents 34-10 in that stretch. As my friend Mark Viviano pointed out via Twitter, while the Orioles are 6-11 in their last 17 games, Houston is 11-6. The O's took two of three from Houston at Camden Yards earlier but they won the first two games of that series by one run each. Houston went 9-19 in April, but is 13-13 in May while averaging 4.5 runs per game and with a team ERA of 3.59. On the mound tonight, Ubaldo Jimenez (2-6, 4.98 ERA) faces right-hander Brad Peacock (1-4, 5.20 ERA). Jimenez went 1-0 with an ERA of 0.46 in his first three May starts but he's given up 10 runs over nine innings his last two starts. He's made 10 O's starts and beyond that three-start run to begin this month, he has an ERA of 7.43 in his other seven starts. The Orioles are just 2-8 in his 10 starts in 2014 and Jimenez is averaging a whopping 18.6 pitches per inning. He needs to turn it around and so does an O's pitching staff that has allowed 63 runs the past 10 games. Does Jimenez get it done tonight in Houston?