• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Nationals-Orioles Preview

Jun 27, 2010 - 1:17 AM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior Writer

Washington (33-41) at Baltimore (21-52), 1:35 p.m. EDT

Consecutive comeback victories have the Baltimore Orioles on the verge of their longest winning streak of the season.

The Orioles try for a season-high fourth consecutive win and sweep of their home series with the struggling Washington Nationals on Sunday.

After overcoming a six-run deficit to win 7-6 on Friday, Baltimore (22-52) rallied from five down to beat Washington 6-5 on Saturday. The Orioles, 3-2 against their interleague rivals this year, secured their first winning series since taking two of three from Seattle May 11-13.

"We're definitely going to enjoy this," interim manager Juan Samuel said. "That's a good sign for me. The players are not quitting."

The Orioles have a chance to record their second sweep after winning all three with Boston at home April 30-May 2. The Orioles have never swept the Nationals since the franchise moved to Washington in 2005.

"I think we can even play better baseball," said Adam Jones, who homered Saturday. "We will take it right now, (but) we've got to continue to improve as a team."

Miguel Tejada and Matt Wieters each had three hits as the Orioles scored six runs in the final five innings Saturday and improved to 6-11 in interleague play.

"No matter what we get down by, we're going to be able to swing and get our way back into it," said Wieters, 7 for 16 with eight RBIs in his last five contests.

Hitting .330 in June, Tejada has six RBIs in his past three games.

While Baltimore looks to continue its winning ways, Jeremy Guthrie (3-9, 4.28 ERA) hopes to snap his five-game losing streak as he takes the ball in the finale.

Trying for his first win since beating Oakland on May 25, Guthrie has a 5.57 ERA while losing his last five starts. He allowed six runs in six innings of a 10-4 loss to Florida on Tuesday.

The right-hander has fared well against the Nationals, going 1-1 with a 1.91 ERA in five starts.

Guthrie will try to contain Washington's Adam Dunn, who's driven in six runs in the series and has 26 RBIs in his past 29 games.

The Nationals (33-42), however, have dropped three in a row and 11 of 14. Washington, 5-12 during interleague play, looks to avoid a sixth straight road loss.

"I'm agonizing over it. I know the players are," Nationals manager Jim Riggleman said. "It tests your character. We're losing way more than our share and we've got to get out of this as soon as possible."

Rookie Luis Atilano (6-4, 4.52) gets the start for the Nationals.

The right-hander snapped a personal three-game skid after giving up a run in 5 1-3 innings of a 4-3 win over Kansas City on Tuesday.

"Finally the work we've been putting in reflected in the game," said Atilano, who allowed 11 runs in his previous two starts.

Atilano, 1-2 with a 5.52 ERA against the AL this season, is making his first start versus Baltimore.