One of baseball’s hottest teams squares off with one of baseball’s hottest pitchers when the San Francisco Giants host Trevor Rogers and the Baltimore Orioles in the continuation of a three-game series Saturday afternoon.
The Giants bombarded four Orioles pitchers for a season-high in runs and hits (18) in a 15-8 romp in the series opener.
Every starter had a hit, eight scored runs and six had RBIs as the Giants continued an offensive flurry that has seen them average 7.8 runs and hit a collective .307 with 12 home runs in six straight wins over the Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs and Orioles.
Willy Adames, who contributed four hits, three runs and an RBI to Friday’s win, said “the energy is back” on a club that has been handcuffed by one of the lowest scoring offenses in the majors this season.
“Try to win as many games as we can. Focus on tonight; win tonight,” Adames told the Apple TV audience after the game. “Forget what’s out there. That’s what we’ve been doing. Just try to have some fun. Win tonight and worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.”
The Giants would seem to have something to worry about in Rogers (7-2, 1.40 ERA), who has pitched the Orioles to four straight wins, getting credit for three of them while allowing a total of four runs in 27 innings. For the season, he has allowed more than two runs in only one of his 13 season starts, that coming on June 18 in a loss to Tampa Bay.
Like the team he will face Saturday, Rogers said the key to his success of late has been brushing aside the distractions of his club’s underachieving season and just trying to bring home a win the next time he’s handed the ball.
Baltimore has lost eight of nine, with the lone win — 3-2 at home over the Houston Astros last Sunday — coming in Rogers’ only start of the stretch.
“We’re a pretty young team, a very talented team,” Rogers told reporters. “But we’re gonna have to make that next step, as far as putting our big-boy pants on. Just knowing that we don’t want this to happen next year and just putting in the work the rest of this year. Really just trying to maintain the culture that they’ve built here.”
The 27-year-old has never beaten the Giants, going 0-1 with a 2.63 ERA in three career starts, all as a member of the Miami Marlins.
No doubt, Rogers would enjoy getting the type of run support the Baltimore offense gave its pitchers in Friday’s loss. Ryan Mountcastle led the way with two doubles, a single and four RBIs, while Coby Mayo homered.
For the Orioles, rookie right-hander Carson Seymour (0-1, 3.74) will be making his first big-league start after having come out of the bullpen 10 times this season.
The 26-year-old pitched almost exclusively as a starter at Triple-A Sacramento earlier this season, going 4-8 with a 3.86 ERA in 16 outings, 15 of which were starts.
– Field Level Media
