Two pitchers who have been underwhelming recently will take the mound when the Baltimore Orioles and Texas Rangers square off Wednesday night in the rubber game of a three-game series in Arlington, Texas.
The Orioles will begin the game with Japanese veteran but MLB rookie Tomoyuki Sugano (6-4, 4.06 ERA), while Texas will start veteran Nathan Eovaldi (4-3, 1.87) in a battle of right-handers.
After losing the series opener 10-6 on Monday in 11 innings, the Rangers evened the set with a 10-2 win on Tuesday.
“Baseball is hard,” said Texas second baseman Marcus Semien, who scored three runs on Tuesday. “We just gotta continue to try and grind out those at-bats and do the best we can. But it’s not always gonna be perfect.”
Sugano garnered the victory in his most recent outing on Friday against the Tampa Bay Rays despite allowing a career-high seven runs on nine hits and a walk over five innings in a game the Orioles won 22-8. He struck out two and got through the fifth inning for the first time in four starts.
The 35-year-old Sugano went 3-3 with four no-decisions in his 10 starts in May and June combined after going 3-0 over his five appearances in April.
He’s worked on six days’ rest in his past two starts and will make his first start with four days between pitches when he takes the mound on Wednesday.
“We’re just trying to kind of mirror the schedule that he’s pitched on the last 15 years that he’s pitched in Japan,” Baltimore interim manager Tony Mansolino said about Sugano. “It is something to be mindful about when a guy comes over on that schedule and then you push him on the every-fifth-day major league schedule. It does take a little bit of a toll.”
It will be Sugano’s first appearance against the Rangers.
Eovaldi, 35, will make his second start since missing a month with right triceps fatigue. He lasted just three innings against the Seattle Mariners on Friday in his most recent appearance, allowing a season-high-tying three runs on five hits. He struck out two and walked two while throwing 45 pitches in a game the Rangers lost 7-6 in 12 innings.
“I felt really good physically,” Eovaldi said as he lamented his lack of execution. “My splitter was up in the zone, and my curveball was kind of popping out of my hand. I wasn’t really executing very well, but I was trying to go out there and get early contact and try to go in as deep into the game as I could.”
Texas manager Bruce Bochy said things are going to improve with Eovaldi as he ramps back up from the injury and the absence.
“Obviously, he wasn’t as sharp as he will be,” Bochy said about Eovaldi. “We got the pitch count to where we wanted it, and it’s only going to get better with him.”
Eovaldi is 8-3 with a 3.59 ERA in 19 career starts against the Orioles, throwing 102 2/3 innings and striking out 92. His most recent appearance against Baltimore ended in a 9-1 loss last July 19 after he surrendered six runs on eight hits in five innings.
–Field Level Media
