The winning streak is over, so it’s time to start a new one
If the Orioles are really going to go somewhere good this season and stay there, they’re going to need to beat their AL East opponents along the way. Even with the less-unbalanced schedule for 2023, these games will be crucial and the O’s just have to find ways to win series as often as possible. They’ve yet to do it, although they’ve only had two tries before this current series, so it’s not bad. But if they lose to the Red Sox today, then they’ll have lost all three AL East series to date. That’s not as great.
Can they manage to do it? They are certainly capable of playing well enough to do so. The Orioles have had some good wins, and they’ve proven themselves better than some of the bad teams that have been on their April schedule to date. The Red Sox aren’t exactly a bad team, but they are, up to this point, a pretty bad pitching staff. The Orioles have taken advantage of this the last two nights. They just didn’t have a chance yesterday since Kyle Bradish was so bad.
It’s Tyler Wells’s turn today to prove that he can pitch well against someone other than the Nationals or Tigers. He’s already done that this year, at least once, with his five emergency innings of relief against the Rangers back on April 3. Finding a way to shut down this Red Sox lineup will be a nice boost for the O’s chances of winning the series. It would be nice if they could do it and get another win in the bank for later against when they start playing the really tough teams more often.
Orioles lineup
- Cedric Mullins – CF
- Adley Rutschman – C
- Anthony Santander – RF
- Ryan Mountcastle – DH
- Gunnar Henderson – SS
- Adam Frazier – 2B
- Ryan O’Hearn – 1B
- Ramón Urías – 3B
- Terrin Vavra – LF
Austin Hays is out of the lineup because he’s day-to-day after a bunt mishap. Manager Brandon Hyde said that it’s a routine day off for Jorge Mateo. These two things in concert do kind of make this look like an unfortunately classic Orioles day game forfeit lineup.
Red Sox lineup
- Alex Verdugo – RF
- Rafael Devers – 3B
- Justin Turner – DH
- Masataka Yoshida – LF
- Kiké Hernández – SS
- Triston Casas – 1B
- Jarren Duran – CF
- Enmanuel Valdez – 2B
- Connor Wong – C
Tanner Houck is making the start for the Red Sox. Of the starters they’re having go in this series, Houck has had the best season to date. He’s 3-0 with a 4.29 ERA. The Orioles really needed to take advantage of the Corey Kluber game last night and they just couldn’t.