After their west coast trip started with a clunker, the O’s aim to right the ship tonight.
Wait, are the Orioles actually on…a losing streak? How could this happen?
The Birds have lost two consecutive games for the first time since back-to-back defeats in San Diego from Aug. 15-16. Their latest west coast trip — their second in three weeks — begun with a dud last night. The Orioles’ offense went completely silent against Zach Davies, a pitcher who entered the game with a 6.93 ERA, had thrown only two quality starts in 13 outings, and had not won a game at home since May 2022. Just a brutal performance by the Birds’ bats.
They’d better wake up in a hurry, because they’ll be facing increasingly better starting pitchers throughout the series, concluding tomorrow with NL Cy Young candidate Zac Gallen. Tonight, they’ll be facing rookie right-hander Slade Cecconi — his actual name — who has a 2.57 ERA and 0.905 WHIP in his first five major league games, three starts. Cecconi was actually an Orioles 38th round pick as a high schooler in 2018, the last year of the Dan Duquette era, but elected to attend the University of Miami and turned into a first-rounder for the Diamondbacks two years later.
The O’s, happily, will counter with their best hurler, Kyle Bradish, who will be looking for his fourth straight quality start. Entering this game, Bradish is exactly one-third of an inning shy of qualifying for the AL ERA title. Assuming he successfully records two outs tonight, he’ll join the list of qualifiers, and his current 3.03 ERA would rank fourth-best in the AL. That number, of course, could improve if he turns in another strong performance. Bradish has never faced the Diamondbacks, but he has faced their designated hitter, longtime Blue Jay Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who is 5-for-9 against him. Tommy Pham is 1-for-6.
Orioles lineup:
DH Adley Rutschman
SS Gunnar Henderson
RF Anthony Santander
1B Ryan O’Hearn
LF Austin Hays
CF Cedric Mullins
3B Ramón Urías
2B Adam Frazier
C James McCann
RHP Kyle Bradish
Diamondbacks lineup:
RF Corbin Carroll
2B Ketel Marte
LF Tommy Pham
1B Christian Walker
CF Alek Thomas
DH Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
C Gabriel Moreno
3B Jace Peterson
SS Gerardo Perdomo
RHP Slade Cecconi