Baltimore Orioles (92-60, 1st +14.5) vs. Boston Red Sox (66-86, 5th -26.0) Trends Baltimore: +4, L10: 9-1 Boston: -2, L10: 3-7 Game 1 (7:05) (QS=9)Kevin Gausman (7-7) 3.57 (1.34/.262), 80/37 (5HR) vs. (QS=4)Allen Webster (4-3) 6.02 (1.51/.259), 28/26 (3HR) Kevin Gausman: Gausman is having a hell of a season considering this is his first stint as a regular starter in the majors. He has gone at least seven innings in three straight starts, but has lost his last three decisions. One thing I really like about Gausman is he is not prone to giving up a lot of home runs. He has not given up a home run in four straight starts and it has helped him avoid the big inning for most of the year. I think he is an ace in the making and I hope we get to see that start to emerge next season. I am still amazed that he is doing this with, more or less, two great pitches and a slider that isn't fully there yet. He allows a .268 BAA against righties and a .259 against lefties with 28 of his walks coming from the left side. With the bases empty, he has a .240 BAA, a .291 with RISP, .275 with RISP and two outs and a .278 with two outs and a man on third. Not all that great, but most of the time, he gets outs when he needs them. 2014 Home (10 starts) (4-5) 3.92 (1.29/.258), 2HR Career vs. Boston (2 starts, 3 relief) (1-0) 1.80 (0.80/.189), 2HR, 19/2 vs. Batter Dustin Pedroia 3/8 Yoenis Cespedes 2/6 David Ortiz 2/5, HR, RBI Allen Webster: Webster probably hasn't been as bad as the ERA suggests. He had three bad starts, a few average ones and two pretty good ones. One came in his last start of six innings where he allowed two runs on four hits and one walk against the Royals. He has allowed a home run for two starts in a row and all the guys we have that have seen him have never gotten a hit off of him. His left/right BAA is identical, but 18 of his walks have come against lefties. He has a .198 BAA with the bases empty, .300 with RISP, .214 with RISP and two outs, .167 with men on and two outs and a .333 with a man on third and two outs. 2014 Away (4 starts) (3-1) 4.91 (1.23/.208), HR, 11BB Career at Camden Yards (0 starts) NA Career vs Baltimore (0 starts) NA vs. Batter Nick Hundley 0/3 J.J. Hardy 0/2 Nick Markakis 0/1 Steve Pearce 0/1 Jonathan Schoop 0/1 The chase goes on to try and catch the Angels, but they are just as hot as we are going 8-2 over their last 10 games and are playing Seattle right now who are the only team in a position to challenge for the wild card spot being only two games back, but they are 3-7 over the last 10. We really do need to sweep Boston here and hope Seattle can win a game or two, but we are three wins behind them. I enjoy watching Gausman and I hope he turns in another great performance here. Tillman and Gonzalez will follow him in the next two games.
Just need to hope that the Royals have one last gasp in them. Although Detroit's bullpen is built for a choke job. In all honesty, I'd like to avoid Oakland. Sure, they're choking dogs but they have talent. And the Royals or Tigers have enough pitching depth that missing their top starter won't matter very much.
Baltimore Orioles (92-61, 1st +13.0) vs. Boston Red Sox (67-87, 5th -25.5) Trends Baltimore: -1, L10: 8-2 Boston: +1, L10: 4-6 Game 2 (7:05) (QS=19)Chris Tillman (12-5) 3.29 (1.22/.234), 139/64 (20HR) vs. (QS=8)Rubby De La Rosa (4-7) 4.31 (1.47/.290), 66/33 (10HR) Chris Tillman: Tillman has now gone 19 straight starts without allowing more than three earned runs and pitched a strong game against the Yankees in his last start of 6.2 IP and allowed only six baserunners, a solo HR and struck out six. He has won his last five decisions and the Orioles have won the last 10 games he has started. He has given up a home run in three straight starts and in six of the last eight games, but has not given up more than one HR in a game since May. He has a .228 BAA with the bases empty, .220 with RISP, .174 with RISP and two outs, .203 with runners on and two outs and .276 with two outs and a man on third. 2014 Home (17 starts) (4-5) 2.54 (1.37/.252), 8HR Career vs. Boston (15 starts) (6-3) 2.70 (1.37/.252), 6HR vs. Batter Daniel Nava (28 AB) .250, 4 2B David Ortiz (24 AB) .083 Will Middlebrooks (18 AB) .000 Yoenis Cespedes 1/8 Rubby De La Rosa: De La Rosa has failed to get through six innings in four straight starts and has failed to get through five innings three of those times. He allowed five runs on six hits in 4IP in his last start against KC, but has given up only one home run over his last five starts. Lefties are hitting .300 off of him while righties are at .277, so he's very hittable. He has a .300 BAA with the bases empty, a .264 with RISP, .233 with RISP and two outs, .284 with men on and two outs and .211 with a man on third and two outs. He also has a .323 BAA on the first pitch of an AB, .308 with an 0-1 count and .308 with an 0-2 count. So, perhaps this is a guy we swing early against and look for pitches to hit when down in the count. 2014 Away (9 starts) (1-4) 5.11 (1.50/.299), 5HR Career at Camden Yards (1 start, 1 relief) (0-2) 6.1 IP, 8H, 5ER, 7/2, HR Career vs Baltimore (1 start, 1 relief) (0-2), 6.1 IP, 8H, 5ER, 7/2, HR vs. Batter Jonathan Schoop 2/3 Alejandro De Aza 2/2, 2B, 3B Nick Hundley 2/2 Kelly Johnson 1/2, 2B The Angels lost yesterday, so it's a shame we couldn't pull out the win last night. Gausman made two bad pitches and had to leave the game due to a finger blister under his fingernail. He said after the game that he usually gets finger blisters (but not under his nail), so I hope this isn't a sign of problems to come and it's not that surprising that O'Day is rusty and out of rhythm after his time off due to some nagging injuries. On the bright side, it's good to see some new faces getting some playing time, but bad that we get to see Kelly Johnson make at least one errant throw a game. Defensive mistakes cost us two runs last night and that is slightly worrying. If we're serious about catching the Angels, we really have to do better than this.
Baltimore Orioles (93-61, 1st +14.0) vs. Boston Red Sox (67-88, 5th -26.5) Trends Baltimore: +1, L10: 8-2 Boston: -1, L10: 4-6 Game 3 (1:35) (QS=15)Miguel Gonzalez (9-8) 3.28 (1.29/.251), 102/49 (23HR) vs. (QS=8)Joe Kelly (4-4) 4.28 (1.38/.248), 58/37 (8HR) Miguel Gonzalez: Gonzalez has quality starts in six straight and has never lost a game against Boston. He threw 6.1 scoreless innings against Boston two starts ago. He has nearly identical BAA for right/left, but has allowed 13 home runs and 30 walks against lefties who hit .254 against him. He has a .242 BAA with the bases empty, .227 with RISP, .157 with RISP and two outs, but allows a .412 with two outs and a man on third. 2014 Home (11 starts, 1 relief) (4-4) 3.06 (1.22/.234), 11HR Career vs. Boston (5 starts, 2 relief) (4-0) 2.17 (1.21/.241), 2HR vs. Batter Daniel Nava (13 AB) .385, 2B, 2RBI Will Middlebrooks 2/6, HR, 3RBI Yoenis Cespedes 2/5 Jackie Bradley Jr. 2/3, 2B Joe Kelly: Kelly has gone at least six innings in four straight starts, but has allowed three home runs. He allowed four runs in six innings against KC in his last start and got the win. Righties hit .255 with five home runs and lefties hit .241 with 27 BB. He has a .238 BAA with the bases empty, .276 with RISP, .222 with RISP and two outs and .385 with a runner on third and two outs. 2014 Away (10 starts) (3-2) 4.70 (1.42/.256), 6HR Career at Camden Yards (0 starts) NA Career vs Baltimore (1 start) (0-1) 6.1 IP, 6H, 4R (3ER), 6/3 vs. Batter Nelson Cruz 3/6, RBI Steve Pearce 2/3, RBI Alejandro De Aza 1/4 The Angels won, so we don't gain anything on them. I have been kind of surprise at how many times our guys have been thrown at in recent games and apparently, Markakis is out with an injury after being hit by a pitch. A lot of bush league stuff going on this season, but we haven't given in and threw at anyone in return which I think shows the maturity of this team. Gonzalez has not lost a game against Boston and pitches good against them overall. To be honest, I am not all that hopeful of catching the Angels for best record and I'm not all that concerned about it either since we have played well on the road this year. I am confident with this team whether it's at home or on the road, so I just want us to get through September with no injuries and have all of our guys relatively healthy and ready to go.
