Orioles Return Home To Face Astros
BALTIMORE (AP) -- Dallas Keuchel had a difficult time finding his way early in his career, but those struggles seem like long ago.
Off to the best start for a Houston Astros pitcher in 11 years, the early Cy Young Award candidate looks to win his fourth consecutive start Monday in the opener of a three-game road series with the Baltimore Orioles.
Keuchel, a 2009 seventh-round draft pick, went a combined 9-18 with a 5.20 ERA after coming up with the Astros in 2012-13. Then, something clicked with the left-hander in the middle of last season.
Keuchel has gone 9-3 with a 2.06 ERA over his last 20 starts. He's also won eight straight decisions since a 3-0 loss to the New York Yankees on Aug. 21, 2014, posting an AL-best 1.79 ERA over that span.
After giving up eight runs over 12 2-3 innings in his previous two starts, Keuchel returned to his dominant form Wednesday when he did not allow an earned run over seven innings in a 6-1 home win over Oakland.
"The perfectionist he is, he's probably going to be a little harder on himself than I am, but I love the way he found ways not to break," manager A.J. Hinch told the team's official website.
Keuchel, the AL Pitcher of the Month for April, owns a league-low 1.67 ERA for AL West-leading Houston (29-16) and is the team's first pitcher to begin a season 6-0 since Roger Clemens won his first nine in 2004.
He'll try to help the Astros claim their third straight win on this seven-game trip following Sunday's 10-8 victory that earned them a split of a four-game series at Detroit. Evan Gattis went 3 for 4 with a home run and a triple, while Preston Tucker hit his second game-tying pinch-hit home run of the series.
Keuchel has yielded four runs over 12 innings while splitting two career home starts against the Orioles. Baltimore sluggers Chris Davis, Adam Jones and Steve Pearce have gone a combined 2 for 14 with five strikeouts off him.
Former Astro Jimmy Paredes went 5 for 11 in the first two games before going hitless in three at-bats Sunday, when Baltimore fell 5-2 at Miami in the decisive finale of that three-game series. Paredes ranks among the AL leaders with a .344 average.
Paredes and the Orioles (19-22) won't have it easy against Keuchel as they begin the second homestand of a stretch with 17 of 20 at Camden Yards. They ended a streak of 19 consecutive scoreless innings in the sixth inning Sunday.
"Offensively it's been a challenge for us here," manager Buck Showalter said.
He doesn't have to remind Wei-Yin Chen (1-3, 2.90 ERA). The lefty has gone seven innings in his last two outings at home without a run of support, though he allowed season highs of four runs and eight hits in Wednesday's 4-2 loss to Seattle.
"Being able to get through seven innings (is) the only thing I can say is good," Chen said through his interpreter. "Maybe in my next bullpen try to make adjustments, and hopefully I can do better (versus Houston)."
Chen is 3-0 with a 2.75 ERA - striking out 19 in 19 2-3 innings - while winning each of his three career starts against the Astros. Jose Altuve has gone 4 for 10 when facing Chen, but he has just three hits in his last 33 at-bats.
The Astros dropped four of seven matchups last season and have lost 10 of 12 at Camden Yards.
