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Orioles Game #51 Game Thread: vs. Rangers, 7:05

No team has scored more runs than the Rangers, so, good luck, Grayson

By Mark Brown
/ new
Los Angeles Angels v Baltimore Orioles
It’s a Gray/Grayson pitching matchup tonight, which means nothing but sounds cool.
Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images

Here we go. The Orioles are back in Baltimore after a triumphant six-game road trip through two other AL East cities. There is no time to rest on their laurels because here await the Rangers, the most prolific offense in baseball up to this point in the season.

That doesn’t mean they’re guaranteed to obliterate the O’s. After all, the O’s pitched pretty well in their previous series against this team, back in April, before anyone had any idea that either the Orioles or Rangers could be any good through close to a third of the season.

This Friday night game marks the modestly-ballyhooed on-field debut of the Orioles new City Connect uniform designs. As I understand it, they will be wearing these uniforms for all remaining Friday home games this season, so you’ll get your chances. With nice weather, the start of a holiday weekend, a quality Orioles team, a strong opponent, and the new uniform thing, I hope that’s all a recipe for a nice crowd there tonight.

If the Orioles rack up an awesome win in the new threads, any lingering irritation over the aesthetic decisions involved will fade away. The Orioles being good is the most important thing. They have, of course, already secured a winning record in the 22-game gauntlet, but we won’t feel so good coming out of it if it ends by being swept by Texas. So, you know, hopefully they can put together a good game and win tonight.

Orioles lineup

  1. Cedric Mullins - CF
  2. Adley Rutschman - C
  3. Anthony Santander - RF
  4. Ryan Mountcastle - 1B
  5. Adam Frazier - 2B
  6. Austin Hays - LF
  7. Gunnar Henderson - 3B
  8. Ryan O’Hearn - DH
  9. Jorge Mateo - SS

Mullins is back in the Orioles lineup after a one-game absence for what manager Brandon Hyde said were “personal reasons.” Ramón Urías is not back in the starting lineup, although he was activated from the injured list earlier this afternoon and Joey Ortiz was optioned back to Norfolk in the process.

Rangers lineup

  1. Marcus Semien - 2B
  2. Corey Seager - SS
  3. Nathaniel Lowe - 1B
  4. Adolis García - RF
  5. Josh Jung - 3B
  6. Josh Smith - LF
  7. Robbie Grossman - DH
  8. Leody Taveras - CF
  9. Sandy León - C

Pitching for the Rangers tonight is Jon Gray. He is having an excellent season in terms of his ERA so far, at 3.02 after nine starts. Pretty good! His FIP is much worse at 4.82, so Orioles fans can hope that luck, if it is luck, will start to turn against him tonight.

Every batter in the Rangers starting lineup has an OPS+ of 100 or better except for Grossman. That’s pretty good. Not an easy assignment for Grayson Rodriguez tonight.

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