Now that they’re guaranteed to win a home series for the first time since May, the Baltimore Orioles look to tack on more success before the visiting Kansas City Royals leave town.
The teams complete a three-game series Sunday afternoon in the final game before the All-Star break. Both teams occupy last place in their respective American League divisions.
“We’ve got to win as many games as possible,” Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said. “Our guys know that.”
The Orioles won for the second night in a row with Saturday’s 6-1 decision. That sent Kansas City to its fourth consecutive defeat.
Baltimore is enjoying a three-game winning streak, but the Orioles have yet to win four in a row this year, failing in each of their first seven chances to do so.
Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman has at least one hit in seven of nine games this month — while drawing two walks in one of the other games. He’ll be going to the All-Star Game for the third time in the coming week.
“For me, it’s just a culmination of that to be able to get here now and to just kind of continue to progress,” said Rutschman, whose batting average dipped to .253 with Saturday’s 0-for-4 line.
The Orioles used power strokes in Saturday’s game, with four of their six hits leaving the yard. They stranded only one runner on base.
Albernaz said there was a buzz in the stadium from the get-go and that makes a difference.
“You felt (the energy) from the crowd, and our boys felt that,” Albernaz said of the energy.
The Royals should get another look at first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino in the lineup. He returned to action Saturday night after nearly a month on the injury list with a hand ailment. He went 0-for-3 with one walk.
“At the end of the day, you got to put numbers up,” Pasquantino said. “That’s the name of this game. Just do whatever I can to help this team put wins on the scoreboard.”
Right-hander Shane Baz (4-9, 4.21 ERA) will be the second nine-loss starter to work in as many days for the Orioles. He has lost his last three decisions, with his last victory coming one month ago from Sunday.
Baz didn’t record a decision in an April 21 outing at Kansas City despite allowing four runs and eight hits in 6 1/3 innings. In three career starts vs. the Royals, he’s 1-1 with a 4.95 ERA over 20 innings.
Right-hander Seth Lugo (3-6, 4.56) will start for Kansas City after a rough outing Tuesday against the New York Mets, who dinged him for nine runs (six earned) on nine hits in 4 1/3 innings. He didn’t take the loss, though, with the Royals pulling out a 16-12 win.
Still. Lugo has only one victory since May 24. On the flip side, he fired seven shutout innings against visiting Baltimore in an April 20 game, though he didn’t factor into the decision that day in Kansas City’s 12-inning 7-5 loss. He has faced the Orioles five times (three starts), with a 1-1 record and 2.01 ERA covering 22 1/3 innings.
After winning two of three games at Kansas City in April, Baltimore has already clinched the season series against the Royals ahead of the final game between them.
–Field Level Media
