For the second time this 2023 season, the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays meet for head-to-head action, this time from Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
The Birds come into the series at 41-24 and in second in the AL East. That record is aided by a three-game sweep that the Orioles handed the Blue Jays in their last matchup.
This time around, it will be Dean Kremer pitching game one, Kyle Bradish in game two and Tyler Wells in game three. Opposite of those Oriole arms will be Chris Bassitt, José Berríos and Yusei Kikuchi.
The offense for the Orioles has finally picked things back up. In the last series for the O’s, a hot offense accounted for 20 runs en route to a series sweep over the Kansas City Royals.
The biggest contributor, who looks to continue his absolute tear, is Gunnar Henderson. Henderson is coming off an AL Player of the Week award, which was granted to him following three home runs, a 1.603 OPS and six RBIs over the last week. He also hit a mammoth 462-foot bomb to secure Eutaw Street’s longest home run in history at Camden Yards.
Along with Gunnar, bats like Aaron Hicks, Ryan O’Hearn and Ramón Urías also look to continue their dominance against the Blue Jays. Oh, and a guy named Ryan Mountcastle has been known to Jays fans everywhere.
BATTERY ❌️-FACTOR
As good as the offense has been, it will be the other side of the equation for our BATTERY ❌️-FACTOR for this series. These three games will be won or lost by the O’s bullpen.
In the series against the Royals, the Birds’ bullpen was fantastic, giving up zero runs over 8.2 innings. The Blue Jays are a much scarier force than the Royals, and it is expected that the bullpen will need to work a bit harder.
Luckily for Baltimore, Félix Bautista and Yennier Canó both haven’t pitched since Friday, so the best one-two punch in baseball should be fully-rested for this battle of the birds.
GAME 1 STARTING LINEUPS
Toronto Blue Jays (37-30): Managed by John Schneider
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2.
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9.
SP. Chris Bassitt RHP (7-4, 3.29 ERA)
Baltimore Orioles (41-24): Managed by Brandon Hyde
1. Gunnar Henderson DH
2. Adley Rutschman C
3. Anthony Santander RF
4. Ryan O’Hearn 1B
5. Austin Hays LF
6. Aaron Hicks CF
7. Adam Frazier 2B
8. Ramón Urías 3B
9. Jorge Mateo SS
SP. Dean Kremer RHP (6-3, 4.89 ERA)
This series begins on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. EST. You can catch this 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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