O's game blog: The Orioles-Tampa Bay Rays series finale

The Orioles (23-13) tonight have a chance for another series victory – it would be their eighth series win in the last nine tries – and a chance to become just the third team in 2023 to take a series from the Tampa Bay Rays (29-8).

The Rays are 9-2 in 11 series for the season, going 1-2 to lose series against both Toronto and Houston. They have won their past three series against the Chicago White Sox, Pittsburgh and the New York Yankees. Tampa Bay is 10-5 on the road and 8-4 versus AL East teams.

The Rays record is now 23-2 in games where they score first after they took a 1-0 lead in the first inning last night but lost 4-2 at Oriole Park.

The Rays began the year 13-0 and are 16-8 since then and they are now 12-6 versus teams with a better than .500 record.

The Orioles can almost match the Rays with an 8-3 series record and they are 3-3 in rubber match games, losing their most recent one at Atlanta on Sunday.  The Orioles have series losses against the Red Sox, Yankees and Braves.

The Orioles have won six of their past 10 games even with a three-game losing streak in there. Over longer stretches they have won 15 of their past 21, 17 of 24 and 19 of the last 27. They are 71-50 since July 1, 2022, a winning percentage of .587 that would produce 95 wins over a full year. The O’s are 5-6 against AL East teams and 1-2 in series within the division.

In going 2-3 against Atlanta and Tampa Bay since Friday, the O’s pitching staff has posted an ERA of 2.91, allowing 17 runs. The O’s starting rotation, one turn through, has posted an ERA of 2.93, allowing nine earned runs over 27 2/3 innings, giving up two earned runs or less four times.

They have held a Tampa Bay team that began this series with a team OPS of .869 and scoring 6.43 runs per game, to five runs in the series on 15 hits and have held them to 0-for-12 when batting with runners in scoring position. The Rays have hit four solo home runs this series.

Right-hander Dean Kremer (3-1, 5.80 ERA), coming off a strong start at Atlanta, will face the Rays in the series finale. In Atlanta on Friday, he allowed six hits and one run over six innings on 93 pitches. This after he had given up nine runs in 10 2/3 in his two previous games.

The Orioles are 4-3 in his starts and lefty batters have hit him hard, batting .366 with an OPS of .971. Last year those numbers were .271/.713 for Kremer versus lefties. And his homer rate this year is up from 0.8 last season to 1.8 now. Right-handed batters in 2023 are hitting .250/.756 versus Kremer.

In four career starts against Tampa Bay, he is 0-1 with a 4.00 ERA and has allowed a .868 OPS.

Lefty Jalen Beeks (1-2, 6.75 ERA) will pitch, presumably as an opener tonight, for the Rays. He has made two starts in 13 games, throwing 16 innings in all his outings, allowing 13 hits and 12 runs with a 1.438 WHIP.

In his last three games, he allowed one run, two hits and two walks over 2 2/3 innings.

Beeks made a start on April 10 versus Boston, going two innings on 27 pitches and on April 16 against Cincinnati, going three innings on 41 pitches. In those two games he has thrown five innings, allowing two hits and one run with two walks and three strikeouts.

On Tuesday night, the Orioles recorded their 13th comeback win of the season. And they turned four double plays, their most since rolling five on May 4, 2022 vs. Minnesota.

Gunnar Henderson connected on his first triple of the year and second of his career in the third inning. Catcher Adley Rutschman snapped an 0-for-his-last-19 stretch with a 407-foot two-run homer onto Eutaw Street in the third inning, the first Eutaw Street home run this season by an Oriole.