BALTIMORE ORIOLES (47-30)

at SEATTLE MARINERS (39-39)

First pitch: Friday, 10:10 p.m. ET
Line: Baltimore +105, Seattle -115, Total: 8.5

The Orioles bring their seven-game win streak to Seattle to start a four-game series with the Mariners on Thursday.

The Orioles have been one of the league’s hottest teams since they have gone on this run. They are leading the AL East with a 5.5-game cushion over the Red Sox. They are coming off of a win last night in San Diego, where they won 12-6. In fact, over the last three games, Baltimore hasn’t scored less than 11 runs in any of the contests. The Orioles have a 9-7 record against Seattle over the last three years. Tonight, Baltimore will have RHP Chris Tillman (10-1, 3.52 ERA, 88 K) on the mound. Seattle is coming into the series after winning three of the last five games. The Mariners did, however, get blown out by Pittsburgh in their last game by a score of 8-1. The Mariners, on the other hand, are playing .500 baseball and are third in the NL East. They are leading the season series 2-1 against Seattle this season too. They will be throwing RHP Taijuan Walker (3-6, 3.45 ERA, 70 K) on the mound tonight. It’s worth noting that over the last three seasons when the Orioles and Mariners meet in Seattle, the games have gone UNDER in six of the last seven games.

Baltimore has been able to go on this win streak by being the hottest hitting team this month. In June, the Orioles are the top team in BA (.303), runs scored (182), and home runs (58). In fact, last night they tied the MLB record for most homers hit by a team in the month of June. Tonight, they can set a new record with just one bomb. The team has been scoring so much that over their seven-game win streak, they have been averaging an amazing 8.7 runs per game. The entire team has been hot, but SS Manny Machado (.332, 18 HR, 49 RBI) and OF Mark Trumbo (.282, 23 HR, 60 RBI) have been leading the way. Trumbo will be excited to go against Walker because he has gone 2-for-3 in his career at-bats against the righty. OF Adam Jones (.267, 16 HR, 50 RBI) has had a monster month, hitting .316 with 11 homers and 27 RBI. Jones is also hitting .480 with three homers and seven RBI over the last seven days. Chris Tillman is pitching for the Orioles tonight and he has been on his game all season. He only has one loss so far on the year. Tillman has had a great record against Seattle in his career, going 7-0 with a 2.96 ERA. It seems that every time these two teams meet this same pitching matchup occurs. The last time Tillman and Walker were going against each other was on May 18, when Tillman threw 6.1 innings and only gave up two runs and won the game. As long as Tillman can pitch like he has all season, his offense should be able to provide him with plenty of run support.

There are questions surrounding Seattle’s starter, Taijuan Walker, tonight. He is coming off of a start that he got scratched from last Friday. He has been battling foot tendinitis that got him pulled from his start on June 14 after 3.1 innings. He was, however, able to make his next start, where he threw five scoreless innings. Tonight’s game could come down to how Walker responds after a missed start. Walker’s season has not been going his way. He has only one win in the months of May and June. He also hasn’t pitched well against Seattle in his career, going 0-1 with a 5.52 ERA in three starts. Even though Walker lost his last matchup with Tillman, he outpitched him in their first matchup, last season, when he threw six innings and only gave up two runs and Tillman only lasted 2.1 innings and gave up five runs. The Mariners win games with their pitching; seventh in ERA in MLB. They have had great hitting from 2B Robinson Cano (.305, 19 HR, 54 RBI) and DH Nelson Cruz (.280, 20 HR, 53 RBI), though. Both of them have been hot over the last seven days, as Cano is hitting .400 and Cruz has four homers and seven RBI. They will need some runs tonight because they don’t know exactly what they will be getting out of Walker.