After losing their grip on first place in Oakland, the Orioles will now look to bounce back and end their ten-game road swing on a high note against the first-place Giants.
The Orioles (64-50) find themselves just a half a game behind the Blue Jays for first place in the AL East after posting a 3-4 record during their current road trip. The O’s 25-33 road record, however, remains a black eye on an otherwise excellent season.
The O’s also fell to 5-5 in the month of August after dropping three of four versus Oakland, and own a 13-14 mark in the second half of the season to date.
Going into the three-game clash in San Fran, the Orioles are 6-4 versus the NL West this season after winning two of three against the Dodgers, just one of three against the Rockies and three of four versus the Padres.
The Giants (65-49) have seen their advantage over the Dodgers for first place in the NL West reduced to just one game after recording a dismal 8-16 mark in the second half of the season so far, but seem to be breaking out of the slump by posting a decent 5-5 record over their last ten.
The Giants own an impressive 32-21 record at AT&T Park on the year, but just a 7-10 mark in inter-league play and a 6-7 record versus the AL East.
The three-game set will mark just the fifth meeting between the two clubs in Black and Orange since the turn of the century and the first since 2013. During that stretch, the two teams are deadlocked at 6-6, but the Orioles have gone 5-4 at AT&T Park while the Giants haven’t made a trip to Camden Yards since 2004.
I’m sure the Orioles aren’t complaining about making the trip out to the lovely Bay Area almost every time, though.
Dylan Bundy (5-3, 3.05 ERA) will take the hill against veteran and two-time All-Star Matt Cain (4-6, 5.16 ERA) in the series opener on Friday.
Bundy has been sensational over his last four starts, going 3-1 with an outstanding 1.90 ERA while racking up 29 K’s over just 23.2 innings.
The O’s 23-year-old rookie will carry a 3-2 record and a 4.18 ERA on the road into his first career start versus San Francisco.
Matt Cain, otherwise known as “The Horse,” has been plagued by various injuries since the start of the 2014 season, but seems to be on the fast track to reclaiming his old form after posting a perfect 3-0 record with a superb 2.35 ERA over his last three outings while also throwing ten scoreless innings over his last two starts.
In his only career start versus the Orioles, the Alabama native allowed three runs on five hits over seven innings with one walk and five K’s in a 10-2 loss on August 11th, 2013.
Kevin Gausman (3-9, 4.02 ERA) is set to take on the amazing Madison Bumgarner (10-7, 2.20 ERA) in the middle game of the three-game set on Saturday.
Despite stringing together a decent run of results as of late, Gausman is still searching for his first road win of the campaign and owns a 0-8 record with a 5.37 ERA away from Camden Yards to date.
This will also mark the 25-year-old’s first career start versus the Giants.
If it was even possible, 27-year-old Giants ace Madison Bumgarner is exceeding his own sky-high standards this season, even if his record doesn’t justify his career-lows in ERA (2.20), K/9 (10.0), H/9 (6.8) and WHIP (1.00). The four-time All-Star has also held hitters to a lowly .206 average at the plate, almost thirty points lower than his career average (.232).
The three-time champ and 2014 World Series MVP boasts a 5-3 record with a sparkling 1.59 ERA at AT&T Park on the year going into his first career outing against the Birds.
Wade Miley (7-10, 4.98 ERA) will take the mound against Johnny Cueto (13-3, 2.93 ERA) in the series finale on Sunday.
Despite two solid efforts, Miley has recorded a 0-2 record and a 4.91 ERA over his first two starts in an O’s uniform.
However, Miley should be confident going into his next outing versus San Francisco, as the former Diamondbacks All-Star owns a 4-4 record and an impressive 3.23 ERA in ten games (nine starts) versus the Giants.
While JCueto is usually one of the most feared pitchers to go against in the league, the 30-year-old ace has seen a recent dip in form in which he’s recorded a 2-2 record with a 4.80 ERA over his last eight starts and a 0-1 record with a dreadful 6.11 ERA over his last three outings.
The two-time All-Star has also been roughed up by the Orioles in the past, recording a 0-2 record with an awful 10.32 ERA and 1.85 WHIP in two career starts.
However, despite leading the majors in home runs (172) and ranking sixth in the AL in scoring (4.68 runs per game), the Orioles offense has been quieted as of late other than a nine-run explosion in the series finale against the A’s.
The Orioles offense will now take on the daunting task of making noise against Cain, Bumgarner and Cueto. I’m not pessimistic, but the Orioles may need another tremendous effort from their own starters to manage a series win in San Francisco.
Led by four-time All-Star Buster Posey (.291, 12 HR, 54 RBI), 2016 All-Star Brandon Belt (.280, 13 HR, 57 RBI), UCLA alum and 2015 All-Star Brandon Crawford (.277, 11 HR, 71 RBI), Swiss-army knife outfielder Angel Pagan (.286, 8 HR, 40 RBI) and the recently-recovered Hunter Pence (.276, 7 HR, 37 RBI), the Giants offense ranks fourth in the NL in average (.258) and sixth in scoring (4.42 runs per game). There has been a distinct lack of power in the Giants line-up this season as they are tied for 13th in the NL in homers (94) on the year. I guess you don’t need home runs to be a first place team as long as you find other ways to score to back-up a championship-caliber pitching staff (who knew?).
It’s no secret that the eight-time world champion Giants are perennial heavyweights in the baseball world and due to their three championships in six years, they’ve earned their status as one of the top clubs in the world. But at a time when the Orioles are just trying to end the road trip with some momentum before flying home, the Giants are going through their worst patch of form this season with a current 8-16 record since the All-Star Break.
Sometimes it’s not about who you’re playing; it’s about when you play them. And for the O’s, there couldn’t be a more perfect time to take on The Boys from the Bay.
Here’s to coming home on a high note!
