A brutal month is slowly coming to an end. For the Baltimore Orioles, that’s good news, but there is still business to tend to.
After knocking off first place teams in the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees, the Orioles were swept by the resurgent Astros in Houston.
The good news is that the Orioles return home tonight, but they face one of the hottest teams in baseball and owner of the best AL record in the AL Central, the Cleveland Guardians.
The Orioles enter their series with the Guardians as the top offensive team in baseball. The Birds lead the league in home runs (125), RBIs (392), runs scored (403) and slugging percentage (.456).
Not that it’s all offense, as the O’s are fourth in ERA (3.38), sixth in runs allowed (292), fourth in earned runs (260), third in home runs allowed (67) and fourth in WHIP (1.16) and average against (.222).
The Guardians come in having won five straight and are using their sneaky offense and solid pitching to become one of the surprise teams this season.
The Orioles will send rookie Cade Povich (0-1, 3.94 ERA) to the mound to open the series. He will be followed by Cole Irvin (6-3, 3.45 ERA) and Grayson Rodriguez (8-3, 3.82 ERA) to round out the series.
The Guardians will send Tanner Bibee (5-2, 3.65 ERA), Logan Allen (8-3, 5.23 ERA) and Carlos Carrasco (3-6, 5.40 ERA) to the bump for the series.
ROSTER MOVES
Prior to today’s game, the Orioles recalled MLB Pipeline’s No. 21 prospect, outfielder Heston Kjerstad, from Triple-A Norfolk.
Kjerstad went 2-for-14 in seven games with the Orioles earlier this season. At the Triple-A level, the 25-year-old has hit .300 with 16 home runs and 58 RBIs with a .998 OPS.
In a corresponding move, the Birds have designated utility man Nick Maton for assignment. The 40-man roster is now set at 39.
BATTERY ❌-FACTOR
This will be the third first place team the Orioles have faced in their last four series, which leads us into our BATTERY ❌-FACTOR.
The Birds were able to win their series against the Phillies and Yankees, but then were swept by the Astros. The high from those series had the young O’s looking large before the they were plucked from the sky.
This is the most adversity the team has faced this year, especially with news of Kyle Bradish, John Means and Tyler Wells lost for the year and Danny Coulombe for the next couple of months.
The Orioles must push aside the outside nose and get back to their brand of baseball in order to recapture the excitement they had going into the Houston series. They must pick each other up and get back to playing the game their way, the fun and loose style of ball that has led them to be one of the top teams in all of baseball.
GAME 1 STARTING LINEUP
This three-game series begins tonight from Oriole Park at Camden Yards, with first pitch at 6:35 p.m. EST. The following two games will have the same expected start times. As always, you can catch each game on MASN or on your local Orioles Radio Network station.
Will the Birds protect the nest, or will the Guardians spoil their return home?
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