The Orioles have not lost four games in a row so far this season. They’ll try to avoid having the first time be today.
If you’ve got the baseball fandom equivalent of a bad taste in your mouth after the Orioles were swept by the Astros over the weekend, you’re hardly the only one. That series sucked. Things are not getting any easier for the O’s as they return back home and face the Guardians starting here tonight.
One thing that has made the Orioles be so continually great starting about two years ago is that they don’t stay down for long. The last time they got swept, they went and won five games in a row. They haven’t lost more than three games in a row all season. It’ll be tougher to turn things around against the Guardians than the last time, when they were able to right the ship against the White Sox.
The team has passed a lot of tests to get to this point with a 49-28 record. The one going on right now is something like: Stabilize the starting rotation, figure out who’s in a rough patch in the bullpen and who just sucks, and wait out the current lineup struggles while juggling the batting order or making needed minor mechanical adjustments as needed. There are probably no substantial changes in personnel to be made to address either of the pitching issues for the next three weeks.
The Kyle Bradish-less picture is not as bleak if tonight’s Orioles starter, Cade Povich, can fire off some solid starts. It’s not an easy task for him, as Cleveland’s offense is pretty good and hits better against lefty starters by a margin of 66 points of OPS (.776 to .710) than it does against righty starters.
Orioles lineup
- Gunnar Henderson – SS
- Adley Rutschman – DH
- Ryan O’Hearn – 1B
- Anthony Santander – RF
- Heston Kjerstad – LF
- Jordan Westburg – 2B
- Cedric Mullins – CF
- Ramón Urías – 3B
- James McCann – C
The lineup will be trying to support Cade Povich tonight.
Kjerstad makes it in – with a high-ish spot in the order – in his first game after being recalled. It’s only a data point of one game, but it is an interesting answer to the question of what kind of role the Orioles have in mind for him. In this case, he’s playing left field instead of Colton Cowser against a right-handed starting pitcher, with righty Austin Hays also on the bench. This will probably not carry over to tomorrow, when Cleveland has a lefty starting pitcher.
Guardians lineup
- Steven Kwan – LF
- Andrés Giménez – 2B
- José Ramírez – 3B
- Josh Naylor – 1B
- David Fry – DH
- Will Brennan – RF
- Daniel Schneeman – CF
- Gabriel Arias – SS
- Bo Naylor – C
Tanner Bibee is the best-performing starter (based on 2024 results to date) who the Orioles will face over the course of this series. He’s having a fine season, striking out nearly 30% of the batters he’s faced up to this point while keeping the walk rate low and not getting hit too hard either. He’s a fly ball pitcher whose fastball really sucks, but that hasn’t hurt him either last year in his rookie season or this year in his sophomore one.