Two teams needing to make up ground in the American League playoff race hope to dig their opponent into a deeper hole when the Baltimore Orioles and Cleveland Guardians open a four-game series in Ohio on Monday night.
The pitching matchup in the opener will be a rematch of a 6-2 Baltimore home win on April 17, when the Orioles’ Tomoyuki Sugano (7-5, 4.44 ERA) got the better of fellow right-hander Tanner Bibee (5-9, 4.29).
The Guardians improved their wild-card hopes when they came out of the All-Star break with two wins in three home games against the Athletics. Cleveland twice scored eight runs in the series after having scored eight or more just seven times while going 46-49 before the break.
“We’ve had a great stretch here,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt observed to reporters as his team was running its best stretch of the season to eight wins in 10 games. “We just have to continue to work, continue to work to have good at-bats every single night.”
Eight more runs of support no doubt would be appreciated by Bibee, who saw his teammates put up a total of just 23 runs in his team-high nine losses in the first half of the season.
The right-hander snapped a personal five-decision losing streak in his final start before the break, limiting the Chicago White Sox to two runs in 5 2/3 innings in a 6-2 win on July 12.
The 26-year-old was roughed up for six runs in 5 2/3 innings in the earlier loss at Baltimore, surrendering home runs to Gunnar Henderson on his eighth pitch of the game and later to Ryan O’Hearn and Heston Kjerstad. It leveled his career record against Baltimore at 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA in two starts.
The Orioles flew into Cleveland a little later than expected Sunday night, the result of a rain delay during their 5-3 win at Tampa Bay that prevented a three-game sweep.
Sitting four games farther back in the AL wild-card chase than the Guardians, Baltimore got a strong effort from starting pitcher Trevor Rogers against the Rays on Sunday as a springboard to snapping a four-game losing streak.
The Orioles will be hoping for more of the same from Sugano, a rookie in American baseball whose extensive experience in Japan taught him that if something’s not working, fix it.
The 35-year-old, bombed for 13 runs over 9 2/3 innings in his previous two starts as some speculated he’d hit a rookie wall, shook things up in his last outing against the New York Mets on July 10 and came away with a 7-3 win.
“Tomo’s making adjustments,” manager Tony Mansolino disclosed to reporters after Sugano’s six-inning, three-run effort. “The league has adjusted to him, and he’s got to kind of adjust back. We’re proud of him.”
The right-hander recorded his second major league win against the Guardians in April, allowing two runs in seven innings. The only runs were the product of back-to-back solo home runs by Daniel Schneemann and Austin Hedges.
–Field Level Media
