After taking both games of a two-game rain-shortened mini-series against the Minnesota Twins, the Orioles will head back home to Camden Yards to kick off a seven-game home stand and a four-game set against the Detroit Tigers tonight.
The Orioles (20-12) head into the series in a two-way tie for first place in the AL East with the Boston Red Sox (21-13) and are in excellent form as the Tigers head into town. The O’s are on a current four-game winning streak and have prevailed in six of their past eight games. The Orioles also hold the best record at home in the majors at 13-5 on the year.
The Tigers (15-18) are heading into Baltimore in 4th place in the AL Central and have fallen off the pace in recent weeks, as they are just 2-8 over their last ten games and as a result, they trail the white-hot White Sox (23-12) by seven games for first place. The one bright spot for the Motown visitors is that their away record (10-9) is considerably better than their record at Comerica Park (5-9).
Now, let’s take a look at the pitching probables over the four-game set:
Ubaldo Jimenez (2-3, 4.54 ERA) will get the nod against the Tigers Mike Pelfrey (0-4, 6.23 ERA) on Thursday. Jimenez, 32, hasn’t fared well against Detroit in his career and goes into the game with a 5-11 record and a 5.60 ERA over 19 starts. He will also be hoping for a better result than he got in his last start against the Tigers on August 2nd, 2015, where the former All-Star allowed six runs on six hits over 4.2 innings with one walk and two strikeouts.
Pelfrey, 32, has been dreadful for the Tigers this season but has posted a 2-0 record with a 4.43 ERA in four starts against the O’s in his career. In his last start against the Orioles on August 23rd, 2015, the former Twin allowed three runs on nine hits over 4.2 innings with one walk and three Ks, but received a no-decision in the Twins 4-3 victory.
Orioles staff ace Chris Tillman (4-1, 3.05 ERA) will take the mound against future Hall-of-Famer Justin Verlander (2-3, 5.40 ERA) in Friday’s bout. Tillman, 28, has completely dominated Detroit in his career, going 4-0 with a sparkling 2.96 ERA and 1.05 WHIP over seven starts. In his last start against the Tigers on July 18th, 2015, the former All-Star was magnificent and allowed just one hit over eight shutout innings with one walk and eight Ks in the O’s 3-0 win.
Verlander, 33, has always fared well against Baltimore in his career and comes into Friday’s game with a 9-3 record and a 3.89 ERA in 16 starts. In his last start against the O’s on July 19th, 2015, however, the O’s tagged the six-time All-Star for seven runs on eight hits over just 3.2 innings in the Orioles 9-3 victory.
Mike Wright (1-3, 5.83 ERA) will square off against Anibal Sanchez (3-3, 5.89 ERA) in the third game of four. Wright, 26, is set to make his first career start against Detroit on Saturday, but did pitch one scoreless inning out of the bullpen in the O’s 8-7 win over the Tigers on July 31st, 2015.
Sanchez, 32, owns a 2-1 record with a 5.09 ERA over four career starts against the Orioles. In his last start against Baltimore, the Venezuelan allowed six runs on nine hits over 6.2 innings with zero walks and five Ks in the Tigers’ 6-2 loss on August 1st, 2015.
Kevin Gausman (0-1, 2.16 ERA) has been phenomenal for the Orioles since coming off of the DL, but somehow is still searching for his first win of the season. In three starts against the Tigers, the 25-year-old is 1-1 with a 4.24 ERA, but if his last start against Detroit proves anything, the O’s flame thrower could very well notch his first win on Sunday. In his last outing against the Tigers, the LSU alum was excellent and allowed just two runs on four hits over seven innings with zero walks and six K’s.
The fourth starter for the Tigers is yet to be determined. Let’s just hope it’s not Jordan Zimmerman (5-2, 1.50 ERA, 1.10 WHIP), who pitched Wednesday night.
Led by Manny Machado (.359, 15 2B, 10 HR, 23 RBI), Mark Trumbo (.323, 11 HR, 27 RBI) and Chris Davis (.242, 9 HR, 23 RBI), the Orioles highly-potent comes into the clash against the Tigers ranked 5th in runs per game (4.6), 2nd in batting average (.273), 2nd in OBP (.336) and 1st in HR (49).
But the O’s will also face a pretty decent attack in the form of the Tigers, who rank 8TH in runs per game (4.3), 7th in HR (38) and 5th in batting average (.254). The Tigers are led by ten-time All-Star and two-time MVP Miguel Cabrera (.288, 4 HR, 14 RBI), five-time All-Star Victor Martinez (.348, 5 HR, 18 RBI), four-time All-Star Ian Kinsler (.290, 6 HR, 17 RBI) and 2015 All-Star J.D. Martinez (.230, 5 HR, 15 RBI), but they also have one of the most in-form players in the world at the moment in the form of the 24-year-old phenom, Nick Castellanos. The Floridian wunderkind has posted a remarkable .378 batting average with seven home runs and an outstanding 28 RBI and a .405 OBP on the year.
However, the O’s pitching staff has the upper hand by a large margin in this match-up, as they come into the series ranked 4th in the AL in total ERA (3.56) with a .246 BAA and a 1.28 WHIP while the Tigers pitching staff has been dreadful in the early goings this season. Detroit ranks just 13th in the AL in team ERA (4.40), 13th in WHIP (1.44), 14th in BAA (.277) and last in K’s (222).
Led by Brad Brach (15 games, 1.00 ERA, 0.72 WHIP), Zach Britton (8 saves, 2.03 ERA, 0.68 WHIP) and Darren O’Day (14 games, 2.19 ERA, 1.05 WHIP) the O’s bullpen has been stellar this season to say the least. The O’s relievers rank 1st in the AL in ERA (2.33) while holding batters to a .225 average (6th).
Detroit’s bullpen on the other hand, ranks 11th in ERA (3.76), but just 12th in WHIP (1.33), 14th in BAA (.276) and last in K’s (75) despite 24-year-old southpaw Kyle Ryan’s ( 14 games, 2.93 ERA, 1.37 WHIP) and 29-year-old Alex Wilson’s (11 games, 2.38 ERA, 0.97 WHIP) best efforts.
Since 2012, the Tigers own a slim 13-12 advantage over the Orioles, highlighted by going 5-1 against the O’s in 2014. But we all know what else happened in the Baltimore-Detroit match-up that year. The Tigers were trounced three-to-nil by the O’s in the 2014 ALDS. So yeah, there’s that.
After going 4-3 against the Tigers in 2015, the O’s are 7-3 against them in the last ten encounters against Detroit. Here’s to continuing that trend in 2016!
