Keegan Akin and Dean Kremer will look to supress the Tigers lineup while the Orioles bats do what they can against Tarik Skubal in the series finale.
Let’s be upfront. This has the potential to be an ugly game. Tarik Skubal is on the mound for Detroit. He’s really good, and he’s left-handed. Not an ideal combo for these Orioles.
Southpaw starters have befuddled the O’s to the tune of a .202/.266/.302 batting line. And that includes some bums that they have face this year. Skubal is the reigning AL Cy Young, and looks even better in 2025. Over his last three starts he has allowed one total run and pitched 23.2 innings. Pretty good!
There is no real weakness for Skubal. If you squint you can see that he has pretty low ground ball rates, and his home run per fly ball rate is low as well. So maybe there is some regression to come there? But we are really grasping at straws here. This guy is an elite pitcher, and this is a tall task for the Orioles.
Tony Mansolino has adjusted the lineup accordingly. Jackson Holliday has dropped down to the six hole, and he’s also gonna DH. Ryan O’Hearn and Cedric Mullins will both start the evening on the bench. Coby Mayo and Dylan Carlson return to a starting role.
On the other side…is Keegan Akin. This was supposed to be a Dean Kremer feature, but now it looks like Akin will serve as the opener for Kremer instead. This will be Akin’s third start of the year. He has done a nice job in his other two, yet to allow a run over 2.2 innings of work. Mansolino said prior to the game that Akin might “go through [the Tigers lineup] a bit, flip it a little bit, go through a couple innings, or whatever the predetermined amount is.” So it sounds like they might ask Akin to face up to nine hitters if things are going well.
Kremer is coming off of a rough outing in Sacramento (5.1 innings, five runs, eight hits, one walk, two strikeouts). But prior to that he had delivered two good starts against the Red Sox and White Sox. Hopefully he bounces back here.
Orioles lineup
- Jordan Westburg, 2B
- Adley Rutschman, C
- Gunnar Henderson, SS
- Ramón Laureano, RF
- Ramón Urías, 2B
- Jackson Holliday, DH
- Coby Mayo, 1B
- Dylan Carlson, LF
- Colton Cowser, CF
LHP Keegan Akin (1-0, 2.89 ERA)
Tigers lineup
- Jahmai Jones, DH
- Gleyber Torres, 2B
- Riley Greene, LF
- Spencer Torkelson, 1B
- Kerry Carpenter, RF
- Dillon Dingler, C
- Zach McKinstry, 2B
- Javy Báez, SS
- Parker Meadows, CF
LHP Tarik Skubal, (6-2, 2.16 ERA)