Get ready for a lot of late nights of Orioles baseball this week.
Don’t look now, but the Orioles are red hot. They’re undefeated since Friday!
OK, sure, it’s a three-game sample size. And those three games came against the worst team in the AL, the White Sox. And the Orioles barely scraped and clawed their way to those victories, scoring only nine runs in the three games combined. But they’re still wins! You can’t take those away from us.
Now the O’s face a much tougher test, beginning a six-game west coast trip with a series against the first-place Seattle Mariners. Tonight they’ll face right-hander George Kirby, who has made just two starts after spending the first two months on the IL with shoulder inflammation. Kirby has looked nothing like his former All-Star self so far, giving up 11 runs in 8.2 innings in his first two outings, and the O’s will look to continue his struggles for at least one more start.
Historically, the Orioles have had some success against Kirby, handing him losses in four of his six starts against them. Gunnar Henderson and Ryan O’Hearn hit dingers off Kirby last year, and Colton Cowser — who is finally returning to the O’s lineup tonight after missing 54 games — has three hits in six at-bats versus the Mariners right-hander.
The Orioles counter with Tomoyuki Sugano, who has been their most consistently effective pitcher this year. Other than his MLB debut March 30, when he had to leave after four innings with cramps, Sugano has worked five or more frames in every start this year. Only once has he given up more than three runs. Sugano is a good bet to keep the O’s in the game, but it will be up to the Baltimore offense to support him.
Orioles lineup
2B Jackson Holliday
C Adley Rutschman
SS Gunnar Henderson
1B Ryan O’Hearn
3B Ramón Urías
CF Colton Cowser
DH Coby Mayo
RF Heston Kjerstad
LF Dylan Carlson
RHP Tomoyuki Sugano
Mariners lineup
SS J.P. Crawford
DH Jorge Polanco
CF Julio Rodríguez
C Cal Raleigh
LF Randy Arozarena
1B Rowdy Tellez
RF Leody Taveras
2B Cole Young
3B Ben Williamson
RHP George Kirby