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The Orioles venture outside of the AL East for the first time this season with the opener of a four-game set against the Seattle Mariners at Camden Yards tonight. For more information on the series at-large, give Mark’s preview from this morning a quick read.
The Mariners are winners of three of their last four coming into this game. Kyle Seager smacked a pair of home runs on Sunday and now boasts a 161 wRC+ on the young season. The only Mariner with a higher mark is Ty France and his 164 wRC+. Seattle’s offense, however, is tied for third in MLB with 96 total strikeouts, 15 fewer than the first-place O’s. Woo!...wait. No.
There has not been as much success for the Mariners on the mound. Their 5.27 ERA is fifth-worst in baseball. The big problem thus far has been the rotation, which has limped to a 6.23 ERA and 1.66 WHIP so far. The walk a lot of guys (23 in 43.1 innings pitched) and get knocked around (.283 opponents’ batting average). It’s not an ideal combination.
Justus Sheffield heads to the bump for the M’s in this one, looking to bounce back from his first start of the year that saw him allow four earned runs on eight hits, two walks, and five strikeouts over five innings of work.
Dean Kremer is in search of his own improvement. The righty threw 3 innings against the Yankees last week before he lost command of the strike zone, walked the bases loaded, and was pulled from the game before recording an out in the fourth inning.
It’s cloudy in the Baltimore area this afternoon, and there appears to be a moderate chance of rain throughout the evening. So, there is always the chance of a delay, but one would hope they don’t do what the Mets and Marlins did on Sunday, where they began a game under rainfall and then went to a delay after Marcus Stroman had tossed just nine pitches.
Orioles Starting Lineup
- Cedric Mullins, CF
- Trey Mancini, 1B
- Anthony Santander, RF
- Maikel Franco, 3B
- Pedro Severino, C
- Ryan Mountcastle, DH
- DJ Stewart, LF
- Ramon Urias, 2B
- Freddy Galvis, SS
RHP Dean Kremer
Mariners Starting Lineup
- Mitch Haniger, DH
- Ty France, 2B
- Kyle Seager, 3B
- Jose Marmolejos,
- Luis Torrens, C
- Taylor Trammell, CF
- Evan White, 1B
- Dylan Moore, RF
- J.P. Crawford, SS
LHP Justus Sheffield