It’s an AL East clash on Friday night with staff aces on the mound. Sounds like a fun evening of baseball awaits!
Well, this feels like an incredibly crucial series, doesn’t it? The Orioles’ hopes of tracking down the Yankees for the AL East crown could be sunk already, but they still have an outside shot at a wild card spot. If that is going to happen, they need to win series against teams that appear, on paper, to be better than them. The Yankees are part of that group.
The O’s have been outscored by the Yankees 22-12 in head-to-head matchups this season, and yet they have won two of the three games that these teams have played. The series in late April was an odd one. It included two one-run wins for the O’s and a 12-run blowout for the Yankees in the middle. Although that was a good outcome for the Birds, anything that happened in April feels like ancient history for this group.
Perhaps the Orioles are catching the Bombers at a good time. Prior to their win over the Angels on Thursday, the Yanks had lost six games in a row. That included getting shut out in three consecutive games. They own an 8-9 record in the month of June, which has seen their division lead slip from 6.5 games at one point to just 2.5 games now.
That said, Max Fried is on the bump for the home team. He has been very good this year, although not quite as good as his 1.89 ERA might suggest. His .250 BABIP and 3.36 xERA indicate that some negative regression could be headed his way. Hopefully the Orioles can tap into that tonight.
Tony Mansolino is rolling out a righty heavy lineup to face the southpaw Fried. Colton Cowser is the only full-time lefty set to start. That means Jackson Holliday, Gunnar Henderson, Ryan O’Hearn, and Cedric Mullins will all begin the evening on the bench.
Despite some success in the recent series against the Angels, the Orioles have not had a great season against lefties. So giving a few of your everyday guys a breather makes sense. It also gives Mansolino quite the arsenal to use in the late innings.
Orioles lineup
- Jordan Westburg, 2B
- Adley Rutschman, DH
- Ramón Laureano, RF
- Ramón Urías, 3B
- Colton Cowser, CF
- Gary Sánchez, C
- Coby Mayo, 1B
- Dylan Carlson, LF
- Luis Vázquez, SS
RHP Tomoyuki Sugano (5-4, 3.38 ERA)
Yankees lineup
- Paul Goldscmidt, 1B
- Trent Grisham, CF
- Aaron Judge, RF
- Jazz Chisholm Jr., 3B
- Giancarlo Stanton, DH
- Jasson Domínguez, LF
- Anthony Volpe, SS
- Austin Wells, C
- D.J. LeMahieu, 2B
LHP Max Fried, (9-2, 1.89 ERA)