Friday night Orioles game thread: vs. Angels, 7:05

Sometimes baseball makes all the sense in the world. Great hitters destroy baseballs, nasty pitchers rack up wins and strikeouts and Cedric Mullins catches everything. Other times, you have the Los Angeles Angels. LA’s lesser team entered the season with two former MVPs, a World Series-winning manager, and the eighth-highest payroll in all of baseball. Despite that, they currently find themselves in fourth in the AL West and seven games out of a playoff spot. They did fire that World Series-winning manager, and have since gone from two games under .500 to eight games under .500. You would be justified in saying that the Angels are one of the most disappointing in baseball in 2022. Then again, given that this same team has finished fourth in five of the last sixth seasons, maybe we shouldn’t be surprised at all.

The Halos will send rookie pitcher Reid Detmers to the mound Friday night in Baltimore. The former first-round pick out of Louisville looked poised for a breakout season early, throwing a no-hitter against Tampa Bay on 5/10. Things have trended in the opposite direction for Detmers since then, as in six starts since the no-hitter he sports a 5.67 ERA. As a result of those struggles, the lefty was sent down to AAA and only recently called up due to the injury to Michael Lorenzen. Friday is Detmer’s 23rd birthday, so maybe that bodes well as he restarts his 2022 MLB season. When Detmer has found success this season, it’s been mostly through a fastball/curveball combination. The sets up particularly well for Ryan Mountcastle, who is hitting .469 on curveballs this season.

The Os counter with Tyler Wells, who is coming off the best start of his career last time out in Minnesota. The six innings of one-run ball, with seven strikeouts, continued a recent stretch of strong starts from the former closer. Over his last seven starts, Wells has put up a 1.89 ERA and held opposing hitters to .158 batting average. While this will be the righty’s first start against the Angels, he did face Los Angeles three times in relief last year. Across four innings, Halos’ hitters went 0-12 against Wells with four strikeouts. So while it may not be realistic to expect Wells to continue to be perfect against the Angels tonight, the recent form and history against Los Angeles say it should be a good evening for the Orioles’ best starter.

Orioles’ Lineup

1. Cedric Mullins CF
2. Trey Mancini DH
3. Ryan Mountcastle 1B
4. Austin Hays LF
5. Anthony Santander RF
6. Ramon Urias 2B
7. Tyler Nevin 3B
8. Robinson Chirinos C
9. Jorge Mateo SS

Angels’ Lineup

1. Jonathan Villar 3B
2. Mike Trout CF
3. Shohei Ohtani DH
4. Taylor Ward RF
5. Jared Walsh 1B
6. Michael Stefanic 2B
7. Luis Renfigo SS
8. Max Stassi C
9. Brandon Marsh LF