The Baltimore Orioles finished their month of April with a 19-9 record, the best opening month in team franchise history.
With that being said, this month of May for the Orioles will be much tougher. The Birds will see former playoff opponents such as the Braves, Blue Jays, Rays, Yankees and Guardians.
The beginning of the month will be the easiest opponent on paper, the Kansas City Royals.
The Birds start this series with their best on the mound. Tyler Wells will have game one, followed by Kyle Gibson and a to be determined starter for games two and three, respectively.
Facing the Orioles will be Ryan Yarbrough, Zack Greinke and former Oriole Jordan Lyles.
The Orioles’ offense looks to stay hot to start May. The lineup is highlighted by Jorge Mateo, who may have just had one of the best offensive months in Orioles history. Mateo has an astounding .347 with an OPS of 1.062.
BATTERY ❌️-FACTOR
We know the offense can score runs, and against a staff like the Royals, runs shouldn’t be the issue. That leads us into our BATTERY ❌️-FACTOR for this series, the starting pitching.
Wells and Gibson absolutely must go deep in their outings to save this bullpen. After this series, the Orioles face some very good teams with not many days off in between.
Wells and his league-leading 0.72 WHIP must get the rotation back on track as they haven’t been pitching up to par over the last week.
GAME 1 STARTING LINEUPS
Baltimore Orioles (19-9): Managed by Brandon Hyde
1. Austin Hays LF
2. Adley Rutschman C
3. Ryan Mountcastle 1B
4. Anthony Santander RF
5. Jorge Mateo SS
6. James McCann DH
7. Gunnar Henderson 3B
8. Ramón Urías 2B
9. Cedric Mullins CF
SP. Tyler Wells RHP (1-1, 2.79 ERA)
Kansas City Royals (7-22): Managed by Matt Quatraro
1. Bobby Witt Jr. SS
2. Vinnie Pasquantino DH
3. Salvador Perez C
4. AJ Melendez RF
5. Edward Olivares LF
6. Nick Pratto 1B
7. Michael Massey 2B
8. Maikel Garcia 3B
9. Kyle Isbel CF
SP. Ryan Yarbrough LHP (0-3, 6.35 ERA)
This series begins Tuesday at 7:40 p.m. EST. 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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