The Orioles travel back home following an impressive 4-1 road trip. The O’s took two out of three against the White Sox and then finished up with a two-game sweep against the Nationals.
Now, the Orioles will host future Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera, former friend Jonathan Schoop and the Detroit Tigers in these teams’ first matchup of the season.
Last year, the Tigers were a serious thorn in the side for the Orioles. The O’s went just 1-5 against Detroit, who were then, and still are, an inferior opponent to the O’s.
This time around, the Orioles are looking for better success. Looking to lead that charge on the mound will be Tyler Wells in game one, followed by Kyle Gibson and Grayson Rodriguez in games two and three, respectively.
The Tigers will send out Michael Lorenzen in game one, followed by Joey Wentz in game two and a to be determined started for game three.
A big thing to keep an eye on in this series will be the starting pitching. Finally, Dean Kremer and Kyle Bradish each tossed beautiful quality starts in Washington, and hopefully, that kick starts the rest of the rotation.
Behind the rotation, Yennier Cano continued to shine in the set-up man role out of the bullpen. Cano has seriously helped nail down a sketchy bullpen, and after a day off yesterday, we should expect to see him in at least two of these games.
Jorge Mateo was dealing with some hip discomfort as he left Wednesday’s game against the Nationals. Although he won’t be placed on the IL, he could possibly see a few days off at the beginning of this home stand.
Also, it was reported earlier this afternoon that catcher Mark Kolozsvary is with the team. Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said that Kolozsvary is a taxi catcher.
BATTERY ❌️-FACTOR
Our BATTERY ❌️-FACTOR for this series are two key contributors for the team’s success so far this season: Adley Rutschman and Ryan Mountcastle.
During the last road trip, both of their bats came back to earth a little bit. In this series, Rutsch and Mounty are set to see a couple of starters with inflated ERAs.
It will be up to Rutschman and Mountcastle to be the spark plugs and create some offense, something that eluded the Orioles in Washington over the last two games. When these two guys are hitting well, it seems like the rest of the lineup follows suit.
GAME 1 STARTING LINEUP
Detroit Tigers (7-10): Managed by AJ Hinch
1. Nick Maton 3B
2. Riley Greene CF
3. Javy Báez SS
4. Kerry Carpenter RF
5. Spencer Torkelson 1B
6. Matt Vierling LF
7. Miguel Cabrera DH
8. Jonathan Schoop 2B
9. Jake Rogers C
SP. Michael Lorenzen RHP (0-0, 13.50 ERA)
Baltimore Orioles (11-7): Managed by Brandon Hyde
1. Cedric Mullins CF
2. Adley Rutschman C
3. Ryan Mountcastle 1B
4. Anthony Santander DH
5. Adam Frazier 2B
6. Austin Hays LF
7. Gunnar Henderson SS
8. Ramón Urías 3B
9. Terrin Vavra RF
SP. Tyler Wells RHP (0-1, 3.86 ERA)
Game one of this series begins Friday night at 7:05 p.m. EST, with games two and three scheduled for 7:05 p.m. EST and 1:35 p.m. EST, respectively. You can catch each game on MASN2 or on your local Orioles Radio Network station.
How do you see this series playing out? Let us know in the comments below! Make sure to follow The Baltimore Battery on Facebook, Twitter and TikTok, and use the hashtag #baltimorebattery when sharing our content!
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