Maybe the way Saturday night’s game played out, there will be special momentum for the Baltimore Orioles as they close out the weekend.
They’ll take on the visiting Atlanta Braves again Sunday afternoon following a thrilling 3-2 triumph.
“Any win is a big win, but a tight game like that (especially),” Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said, emphasizing the importance.
Baltimore, which swept a three-game series last year in Atlanta, will try to win this year’s series when the teams meet in the rubber game.
The teams have played a pair of one-run games. Atlanta won 7-6 in 10 innings Friday night and Baltimore responded by scoring the winning run in the ninth inning of Saturday night’s escape.
That final run came on Dylan Beavers’ two-out hit which plated Jackson Holliday.
“I think everyone in this clubhouse believes we can be really good,” Beavers said. “We just need to be better more consistently, all around. We’re all kind of in agreement on that. But I think, every day, we’ve got to win the day.”
Few things have come easily for the Braves lately, but despite Saturday’s result, they’ve won seven of their last 10 games.
“You’ve got to play well to beat teams in this league,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “There are some good things happening right now. It’s well documented, the tough June we had. But after the break, we’ve really turned it around and we’re playing well in pretty much all phases.”
The Orioles like what they’re seeing from third baseman Christian Encarnacion-Strand, who has played in six games for the team. He has hit three home runs, driven in nine runs and has at least one hit in five of those games.
“It has been really impressive,” Albernaz said. “It has been fun to watch. He hasn’t been missing good pitches to hit, and that’s a testament to him.”
The Braves will have right-hander Reynaldo Lopez (4-3, 3.95 ERA) in a starting role for Sunday’s series finale. He has come out of the bullpen in 13 of his 23 appearances this year, but he has worked into the fifth inning in each of his four starts in July.
Lopez has been roughed up for nine total runs in 9 1/3 innings in his last two outings. All-time against the Orioles, he’s 2-2 with a 2.38 ERA in 10 matchups, including three starts.
The Orioles have right-hander Shane Baz (4-9, 4.05) ready for another start. He has been sharper in his last two outings, allowing a combined three earned runs over 10 2/3 innings, recording 15 strikeouts without issuing a walk. Still, Baz is without a victory since June 12 — and the Orioles have won a game in only one of his last six stints.
Baz will be facing the Braves for the first time in his career.
The Orioles, who will be concluding a three-game homestand, might want to stay away from using reliever Rico Garcia for at least a game. In each of the last two games, he surrendered a game-tying home run in the eighth inning, running his streak of consecutive appearances with a homer allowed to three.
There was concern late in Saturday’s game about Atlanta outfielder Eli White, who fell while making it to second base on what turned out to be a pinch-hit double in the seventh inning. He later left the game.
–Field Level Media
