Oriole Park at Camden Yards turns 30 as the Orioles try to claim a series win against Pittsburgh in Game 2.
Tonight at Camden Yards what’s happening off the field is almost more exciting than the game itself. Baltimore is celebrating 30 years at Oriole Park, which officially opened for business on April 6, 1992. That day, the 35-year-old Rick Sutcliffe, who was not totally recovered from a bout of food poisoning, pitched a five-hit complete-game shutout.
There’s a bunch of festivities scheduled for tonight. The first 15,000 fans get a commemorative T-shirt and, prior to the game, there will be a ceremony honoring some of the greatest Orioles of the past three decades, including Sutcliffe, Robert Andino, Mike Devereaux, Jay Gibbons, Chris Hoiles, Ubaldo Jiménez, Rodrigo López, Cedric Mullins, Eddie Murray, Mike Mussina, and Jeff Reboulet. From 6:00-7:00 pm, some former Orioles will be on Eutaw Street signing autographs. And stick around after the game for an “I Love the ‘90s” concert featuring Dru Hill, Smash Mouth, and Salt-N-Pepa’s DJ Spinderella.
Now, like I said, all of this is almost more interesting than the game, because the Orioles have defied all expectations to find themselves just 1.5 games out of a Wild Card in August and have a chance to gain ground in the standings if they can take another game from the 43-63 Pirates tonight.
Similarly defying logic and expectations is Austin Voth, a midseason DFA by the Nationals who’s now succeeding as an Orioles opener. From an ERA over 10 with Washington, Voth has put up a glowing 2.84 mark in 11 appearances for Baltimore while also striking about a batter per inning. The Voth curveball, which has some of the highest spin rates in the league, has been his most successful pitch. Hopefully a Pittsburgh offense that’s last in the league in run-scoring will be a flattering match-up for the righty.
On the bump for Pittsburgh is the righty JT Brubaker, now in the middle of a decent season in his third-year with the team. The 28-year-old is on pace for a career high in innings and has managed to stay healthy all year so far while whiffing about a batter per inning (9.1 K/9). If you juxtapose Brubaker’s 2-9 record with a league-average 4.40 ERA, the unavoidable conclusion is that the righty has had really low run support. He’s trending in the wrong direction, however, with a 7.84 ERA and 20 hits allowed over his last 10.1 innings. Brubaker is a sinker-slider-curveball guy, with a curveball, like Austin Voth’s, that’s his best pitch (a .211 XBA). Safe to say we can expect a lot of hooks tonight.
Austin Hays is still nursing a sore side, so we’ll see a repeat of the lineup that just scraped out a 1-0 win last night. Hopefully these guys can hit better than 2-for-15 with RISP tonight on Oriole Park’s unofficial anniversary.
Orioles lineup
1. Cedric Mullins CF
2. Adley Rutschman C
3. Anthony Santander RF
4. Ryan Mountcastle 1B
5. Terrin Vavra DH
6. Ramón Urías 3B
7. Rougned Odor 2B
8. Jorge Mateo SS
9. Brett Phillips LF
Pirates lineup
1. Kevin Newman SS
2. Bryan Reynolds CF
3. Ben Gamel RF
4. Ke’Bryan Hayes 3B
5. Oneil Cruz DH
6. Tucupita Marcano 2B
7. Greg Allen LF
8. Josh VanMeter 1B
9. Jason Delay C