Much of the second half of the season has seen the Baltimore Orioles play .500 ball. Interestingly enough, they are a half game up on the New York Yankees for the AL East lead.
Once again, the Birds have positioned themselves as the team to beat in the AL East, and one team that would love to play spoiler is the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Birds will welcome the Rays to Oriole Park at Camden Yards starting Friday night. This season, the Orioles are 8-2 against the Rays, securing the season series once again. For the O’s, this will be three of the remaining six games against teams with losing records down the stretch.
Making a surprise start is Dean Kremer (6-9, 4.51 ERA), who had a ball deflect off his wrist in his last outing. Surprisingly, x-rays came back negative, and the swelling went down quicker than expected, allowing Kremer to make his scheduled appearance.
Following Kremer will be Zach Eflin (10-7, 3.60), making his second start against his former team. Corbin Burnes (13-7, 3.19 ERA) will close out the series for the O’s.
For the Rays, Shane Baz (2-2, 3.49 ERA) will open the series and will be followed by Ryan Pepoit (7-6, 3.76 ERA) and Zack Littell (5-9, 4.04 ERA).
BATTERY ❌-FACTOR
The Orioles have 21 games left heading into their series with the Rays. With the Yankees having 22 games left, each game going forward is critical and holds weight with every outcome.
It’s for this matter that the BATTERY ❌-FACTOR for the series is momentum and building it.
One way the Orioles can position themselves for a strong finish is to pick up momentum and run with it. Each opportunity must be taken advantage of and mistakes minimized in order to build momentum.
While this is a round about ❌-FACTOR going forward, winning the series, especially sweeping it, could give the Orioles the momentum they need to find that extra gear and start to pull away.
GAME 1 STARTING LINEUP
The first game is scheduled to begin tonight at 7:05 p.m. EST. Game two has an estimated start time of 4:05 p.m. and game three at 12:05 p.m. EST.
You will be able to watch games one and two on MASN, with game three being played on Roku. You can also tune in to your favorite local Orioles Radio Network station as well.
Will the Birds fly by the Rays, or will they sting the Birds and stall their ability to pull away in the AL East? It all starts tonight at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
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 (X) and TikTok, and use the hashtag #baltimorebattery when sharing our content!
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