O’s Gaming Blog: Grayson Rodriguez gets start in series opener at Houston

HOUSTON – After a stunning 17-5 victory over the New York Yankees on Thursday, which gave the O’s two wins in three games in this series, their road show arrived in Houston for a weekend series against the Astros at Minute Maid Park.

The Orioles (49-25) are on a 107-win pace after winning back-to-back series against Philadelphia and New York.

In total, they have won four of their last five games, 10 of 13, 15 of 21 and 20 of their last 27 games. They are now 24-11 on the road and are scoring 5.6 points per game in road contests this season.

The Orioles are 5-2 this season against New York and 19-7 for the year in division play.

Their 17 points surpassed their previous season’s high of 13 points on March 30 against the Los Angeles Angels. Their 19 hits surpassed the previous season’s high of 15. The 12-point victory was the largest margin of victory of the year, surpassing their 11–1 win on May 5 in Cincinnati.

In the last two games at Yankee Stadium, they scored 24 runs on 30 hits with 12 doubles and four home runs. They went 14-for-44 at bats with runners in scoring position.

After their blowout victory yesterday, the Orioles now lead MLB in two runs scored with 390 and fewest runs allowed at 265. They lead the majors in home runs per game (1.61), in runs per game (5.27 ) and slugging percentage at 0.455. Baltimore’s team leads the AL with a 3.13 ERA and is tied with the Philadelphia Phillies for the best ERA in all of MLB.

They now face a Houston franchise that has appeared in the American League Championship Series or World Series for seven straight seasons from 2017-2023.

But after winning the 2022 World Series with 106 wins and winning 90 games last season, this Houston club is 35-40. The Astros started the year 1-5 and 4-11. They got five games closer to .500 earlier on May 17 and are 15-15 since then. Houston, which is 19-19 at home, is 3-7 against AL East clubs.

Right-hander Grayson Rodriguez (8-2, 3.20 ERA), a pitcher on a pretty good roll right now, will start the series opener for the Orioles tonight.

Rodriguez has allowed two runs or fewer in three straight starts and in six of his last seven games. Over the last three games, he is 3-0 with a 2.33 ERA with two walks and 16 strikeouts in 19 1/3 innings.

In his last seven games since April 29, he is 5-1 with a 2.36 ERA. During that span, he walked 14 and fanned 43 in 42 innings, allowing a .205 batting average and a .591 OPS.

This season, left-handed hitters are hitting .205 with a .607 OPS against Rodriguez while righties are batting .262/.753.

In a career start against Houston, Rodriguez is 0-0 with a 3.00 ERA allowing two runs in six innings. Tonight he pitches in the town where he was born and the O’s drafted him with the No. 11 pick in the first round of the 2018 MLB Draft out of a high school in Nacogdoches, Texas, about two hours north of Houston.

Houston tonight will start a pitcher who will make his MLB debut, one who was drafted last year and one who hasn’t even pitched at the Triple-A level yet.

Right-hander Jake Bloss, who turns 23 on Sunday, will get the start after throwing four outings to start this year in High-A ball, then making eight starts at Double-A Corpus Christi.

In those 12 games combined, Bloss went 4-2 with a 1.74 ERA and allowed just 30 hits in 62 innings with a 0.82 WHIP and 0.144 batting average.