The Wednesday night Orioles game thread: vs. Red Sox, 7:05

The Orioles have a chance to win three games in a row for the first time since the end of April. That's a sad but true fact and it probably explains why they find themselves 5.5 games out of first place, outside of any dark sacrifices made by the first place Yankees.

The O's keep winning two games and failing to win that third game in a row. They will have a decent chance facing them tonight, given that they are facing a pitcher who's sporting a 5+ ERA this season. Those feel like the pitchers they've struggled against the most here this season, and that perception may actually be true. Rick Porcello has not seemed like the guy he was last year, and has looked a lot more like the guy with the 4.35 career ERA.

Though they won yesterday, it was continuing their unfortunate pattern of games where they score two runs or fewer. The Red Sox are probably not about to get shut out in back to back games, so if the Orioles want to try to score more than one run tonight, that would be nice. Or maybe they shouldn't try at all - maybe trying too hard is exactly what's gotten them into the rut they are presently in. Baseball is complicated.