ARLINGTON, Texas — Fresh off of a disappointing series in Boston against the Red Sox, including an intense 10-9 victory to start the season, the Baltimore Orioles come to Arlington 1-2 on the season. The Rangers, on the other hand, found themselves sweeping a series against the defending National League champion Philadelphia Phillies in rather convincing fashion.
Where Baltimore’s coming from
Two nail-biters in Beantown were a nerve-wracking way for the Orioles to kick off the season. On Opening Day, starter Kyle Gibson did his best to keep the O’s in the game, going five innings and looking relatively strong during his time on the mound. But in the sixth, Gibson gave up his third and fourth runs as he ran out of gas.
Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde, with his team up 8-4 at that point, turned it over to his bullpen. Baltimore ended up scoring two more times in the 7th, making it 10-4 at that point, but Bryan Baker gave up three runs in the 8th and closer Felix Bautista, who was great for the Orioles last season, barely got the O’s out with a win, as Baltimore won 10-9.
The next night was a different story, as Baltimore carried an 8-5 lead through to the 7th before collapsing. Bautista, called upon to repeat the performance of the night prior, eventually gave up a walk-off 2-run home run to Adam Duvall.
On Sunday, Cole Irvin – acquired in a trade with the Oakland Athletics – made his Baltimore debut and gave up 6 runs in 4 innings, and while the Orioles scored 5, they couldn’t overcome additional offense from the Red Sox in a 9-5 loss.
The brightest spot over the opening series for the O’s was Adley Rutschman, the Orioles’ No. 1 overall draft pick from 2019. Rutschman made history, becoming the first catcher since 1901 to have five hits and get on base six times in a season opener.
Things to look out for
Despite coming out of Boston with a series loss, Baltimore showed that they can have a potent offense. The Orioles tallied 33 hits over the first three games of the season, amassing 23 runs as well. They tagged the 1-2 combination of Tanner Houck and Chris Sale for many of those hits and runs, showing that there’s no fear in that lineup.
Couple that with Texas having scored 29 runs against the Phillies, and we could be in for a slugfest of a series. But the Orioles team is still a young, inexperienced team. They are where Texas was a few seasons ago, with several unknown players among a handful of veterans hoping to find the right mix.
Pitching probables preview
● Game 4, 7:05 PM CST: Kyle Bradish (4-7, 4.90 ERA 2022) vs. Jon Gray (7-7, 3.96 ERA 2022)
● Game 5, 7:05 PM CST: Tyler Wells (7-7, 4.25 ERA 2022) vs. Andrew Heaney (4-4, 3.10 ERA 2022)
● Game 6, 1:05 PM CST: Kyle Gibson (1-0, 7.20 ERA) vs. Jacob deGrom (0-0, 12.27 ERA)
Jon Gray and Andrew Heaney will make their season debuts before Jacob deGrom goes against Gibson on Wednesday afternoon. Gray is aiming for a more consistent, healthy 2023 and an outing against a young Baltimore team might be a good way to start that quest.
Similarly, Heaney is looking to make up for lost time, as he was wiped out for the first half of last season before returning to have a good half with the Los Angeles Dodgers, albeit one that lasted just 72 ⅔ innings.
Baltimore will send Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells in the first two games, who both have less than a full season of starts under their belts at the major league level. The Baltimore bullpen was also fairly taxed over the last two games, having had to pick up 11 innings. If the Rangers can get to the starters early, they could be in business, something they were able to do against Philadelphia.
Do you think the Rangers will take the series against Baltimore? Share your predictions with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.
