The lineup suddenly looks a lot more solid.
The off day has passed and the Orioles are back home in Baltimore. I hope they are happy to be home and ready to play some good baseball, because the Detroit Tigers are in town. It’s hard for me to think of the Tigers as a good team, but that’s exactly what they are. Their 43-24 record is the best in Major League Baseball. Better than the Yankees or Dodgers or anyone.
The Orioles and Tigers already played a series in Detroit at the end of April, with the Tigers handing the Orioles their first sweep. I guess if you’re going to get swept, it’s better for it to happen at the hands of the best team instead of, say, the Washington Nationals. Oh, right, the Orioles were also swept by the Nationals.
There has been a change in starting pitcher from this morning, when the Tigers had Sawyer Gipson-Long, a righty with a 7.36 ERA scheduled to pitch. The starting pitcher is now listed as Brant Hurter. Hurter is a lefty with a 1.62 ERA. This does not bode well for the Orioles.
Hurter is not a starter, so I assume he’ll be operating in the role of opener. In relief, he has mostly pitched about two innings in each of his five appearances since May 21st. We’ll see how long the Tigers let him go. Given the O’s woes against lefties, it wouldn’t surprise me if more teams start doing this against them.
O’s starter Cade Povich has allowed two or fewer runs in three of his last four starts. The fourth was a stinker against the Cardinals. He’s not going super deep into games over that time, topping out at 5.2, but if he manages 5+ with two or fewer runs tonight, I’ll call it a non-fail for him.
The news of the day is the reinstatement of Jordan Westburg and Cedric Mullins from the IL. If those two can play the way we know they are capable, it’ll be a big boost to the lineup. Mullins didn’t get into any rehab games, so I assume that’s why he’s being eased back in at DH for now.
Leading off for the Tigers today is Jahmai Jones. Yes, THAT Jahmai Jones. He has had two hits in two-bats so far for the Tigers, and they seem to be hoping that means something since they have him at the top of the lineup.
Every batter in Detroit’s lineup has a better-than-average OPS+. So that’s annoying.
Orioles lineup
- Jackson Holliday (L) 2B
- Adley Rutschman (S) C
- Gunnar Henderson (L) SS
- Ramón Laureano (R) LF
- Ryan O’Hearn (L) RF
- Jordan Westburg (R) 3B
- Colton Cowser (L) CF
- Coby Mayo (R) 1B
- Cedric Mullins (L) DH
Tigers lineup
- Jahmai Jones (R) DH
- Gleyber Torres (R) 2B
- Riley Greene (L) LF
- Dillon Dingler (R) C
- Spencer Torkelson (R) 1B
- Zach McKinstry (L) 3B
- Wenceel Pérez (S) RF
- Javier Báez (R) SS
- Parker Meadows (L) CF
Let’s go O’s!