The Orioles will look to bounce back against the Boston Red Sox after dropping the last three games of the four-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays. The O’s will have Chris Tillman and Kevin Gausman take the mound in the series, which should give them an opportunity to find a way to win two games.
GALLARDO RETURNS THIS WEEKEND
After completing his final rehab start on Monday night, Yovani Gallardo is expected to return to the Orioles on Saturday and pitch against the Toronto Blue Jays. We should get more clarity of the rotation when Buck Showalter speaks with the media – the discussion should also give us some insight into the pending fate of Ubaldo Jimenez. We know the O’s can’t continue to pitch Jimenez every fifth day, but it’s still to be determined if they are willing to eat the rest of his contract and cut their losses.
Back to Gallardo, I have been vocal about how I don’t think he is anything special, but there’s no denying that he should provide a boost to the rotation. The right-hander should help stabilize things and give the O’s three pitchers who will consistently give the team a chance to win. Unless Tyler Wilson and Mike Wright start pitching better on a consistent basis, there’s no doubt Dan Duquette will do everything in his power to add another starting pitcher before the end of July.
We hear all the time that the Orioles don’t have any minor leaguers to trade to acquire a top-of-the-rotation pitcher. While that’s true, they do have depth on the offensive side that should help them get a middle-of-the-rotation piece to help in the final couple of months. The pitching has been depleted due to trades in recent seasons, so it wasn’t a surprise to see the organization attack pitching in this year’s draft.
The bottom line is that Duquette has proven he will make trades at the deadline and this year shouldn’t be any different.
ALVAREZ HEATING UP
The Orioles offense has become more consistent and it’s not a coincidence that said consistency coincides with Adam Jones, Chris Davis, and Hyun Soo Kim playing well. However, Pedro Alvarez is a major reason the offense is once again clicking as he is enjoying his best month of the season, entering the first game against the Red Sox batting .355 with four home runs in June.
We know this offense will hit another valley, but it’s good to see Alvarez playing the way many envisioned when he signed in the offseason. Alvarez, J.J. Hardy when he returns, along with Jonathan Schoop should give the Orioles plenty of firepower at the bottom of the order.
MATUSZ SIGNS MINOR LEAGUE DEAL WITH CUBS
Can we as Orioles fans survive another failed pitcher turning around his career with the Cubs? I hope it doesn’t come to that. Brian Matusz never lived up to his top-five draft pick status, but he was able to get some big outs after being converted to a lefty specialist.
It will be interesting to see how this situation plays out over the next couple of months and this is definitely something I will be following. I’m very curious to see how Chicago decides to use him, and how he will perform in whatever role in which he ends up.
