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It's about time for the Orioles to win a dang game in this series against the Rangers. Being as how it is the left-handed batters of the Rangers who've been killing them, perhaps the fact that the O's are sending out a left-handed pitcher, Wei-Yin Chen, to start the game, is encouraging.
The O's have managed to hold on to their percentage point lead in the AL East despite losing the last two games. They really can't count on that happening again. In fact, the Blue Jays already pasted the Red Sox earlier on Wednesday, which means at this exact moment there are four teams within a half game of the AL East lead. Kind of ridiculous, isn't it? The Yankees play the Angels again. The Rays are still in Cleveland. Those games, like the Orioles, will be starting early in the 7 o'clock hour.
Texas starter Nick Martinez is having himself a nice year, at least by ERA. A 3.39 ERA looks good. Maybe he's due for some FIP regression since he hardly ever strikes anyone out. Also, Martinez has hit 12 batters so far this year in 15 starts. Those are some unnecessary extra baserunners. Right-handed batters are hitting .306/.385/.495 off of Martinez.
Which is exactly why the Orioles lineup is loaded up with... oh, wait, those are all of the lefties. I guess Buck isn't worried about the small sample size of this year's platoon splits. Well, let's hope that works out.