Following a much-needed day off, the Orioles are heading to the Oakland Coliseum to cap off their road trip with three games against the American League’s worst team, the Oakland Athletics.
After six games in Seattle and San Diego, where the Orioles won one of those series and went a combined 3-3, it is no secret that it was a rough six games, especially offensively. Having a chance to face the A’s and regain some confidence is a blessing.
Looking to lead the charge for the Orioles on the mound will be Kyle Gibson (11-4, 4.89 ERA), Cole Irvin (1-3, 4.92 ERA) and Kyle Bradish (7-6, 3.18 ERA). Oakland has not announced a single starter for this series.
As Brandon Hyde and the Birds continue to roll out a six-man rotation, it will become slightly more taxing on the bullpen. Even so, the biggest factor in keeping that bullpen fresh will be getting length out of starters like Gibson and Irvin, who is returning to his former home ballpark for the first time since his acquisition.
What will need to happen, which even with three wins so far on this road trip hasn’t happened too often, is the offense providing some run support. Allowing the starters to pitch with a lead will seriously help keep them in the game and not make the bullpen have to come in and save one-or-two-run games.
BATTERY ❌️-FACTOR
That leads into our BATTERY ❌️-FACTOR for this series. The offense has been stumbling lately. To get going in this series, this guy needs to stay hot and carry the offense: Ryan Mountcastle.
Mountcastle has had the A’s number this year, as he tied the Orioles’ franchise record for most RBIs in a single game with nine back in April. It won’t take an effort like that to win this series. However, more dominance like that will trickle down to the rest of the lineup.
Mounty has a batting average of .283 with 17 hits, six home runs, 18 RBIs and 11 runs scored in 16 games versus Oakland in his career. That, plus his current 23-game on-base streak, translating over into this set would be huge for the O’s.
GAME 1 STARTING LINEUP
This series begins Friday night at 9:40 p.m. EST, with game two set for 9:07 p.m. EST and game three at 4:07 p.m. EST. You can catch each game on MASN 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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