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Orioles at Phillies Series Preview 8/11-8/13

On Tuesday, the Orioles will travel north to open a three-game series against the Phillies.  

The Baltimore club (7-7) will look to improve to a winning record following an off day on Monday and a series win over the weekend against the defending champion Nationals.

The Phillies (5-6) will look to build off of an offensive trouncing in which they pounded five homers in a victory over the Braves.

Read ahead for details on the pitching match ups and some other key statistics from this series.

Tuesday, 8/11 7:05pm.  Alex Cobb (1-1, 2.51 ERA) vs Zack Wheeler (2-0, 2.08 ERA).  Cobb, a righty, went five innings and allowed just one run but took the loss in his last start against Miami.  The veteran Cobb is averaging more than a strike out per inning this season.  JT Realmuto is 3-for-6 with two homers in his career when facing Cobb.  Wheeler sports a 0.75 ERA in a pair of career starts against the O's.  Opponents are OPS'ing .631 against Wheeler in his two starts this season.

Wednesday, 8/12 7:05pm.  Wade LeBlanc (1-0, 6.91 ERA) vs Zach Eflin (0-0, 0.00 ERA).  In eight career appearances when facing the Phils, the lefty LeBlanc has notched a 2-2 record with a 2.89 ERA.  Bryce Harper is 3-for-10 with a home run in his career when facing LeBlanc.  In 37 career appearances at Citizens Bank Park, Eflin has a 15-13 record with a 4.15 ERA.  Eflin surrendered two unearned runs and struck out five in four innings of work against the Yankees last week.  

Thursday, 8/13 4:05pm.  Tommy Milone (1-1, 3.21 ERA) vs Jake Arrieta (1-1 2.45 ERA).  The lefty Milone scattered three hits over six scoreless frames against the Nats last week.  Realmuto is 3-for-5 with two doubles and a home run against Milone in his career.  Arrietta, originally a 5th round draft pick of Baltimore in 2007, is 2-0 with a 1.32 ERA in two career starts against the Orioles. 

Didi Gregorius is a .309 hitter in 73 career games against the O's.  Gregorius is batting .333 with 2 homers in seven night games this season.  

Bryce Harper is a career .271 hitter with four home runs in 30 games when facing Baltimore.  In 141 career contests at CBP, Harper is a .268 hitter with 37 homers and 103 RBI.  

Backstop Pedro Severino is batting .400 in 11 night games this year.  In 10 career games against the Phillies, Severino is 1-for-23 (.043 average).  

Switch-hitting outfielder Anthony Santander is batting .304 and has 10 RBI in six road games this season. 

Second baseman Hanser Alberto is 3rd among American League batters with a .349 average.   The righty hitter is batting .458 in six road games. 

Through 11 games played, the Phillies' team OPS ranks second best in the majors at .790.  Baltimore ranks 5th at .770 through 15 games.  

The Phils' bullpen ERA is off-the-charts awful and is worst in MLB at 9.87.  Baltimore's relief ERA is a fair 3.99. 

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