The Cleveland Guardians have won a tight, pitcher-dominated game and a slugfest in their first two games in Baltimore.
Now they go for a sweep of the Orioles in the finale of the teams’ three-game series Wednesday night.
“We love playing the best teams because we get to measure ourselves,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “This team believes we’re going to win every night. … Our goal is to win every series and now we have an opportunity to sweep.”
Cleveland’s winning streak sits at seven games after Tuesday night’s 10-8 survival. Baltimore has dropped a season-worst five straight games.
“Just the resilience of this team, I couldn’t be more proud of this team top to bottom,” Vogt said. “I can’t say enough about the way our pitching staff has picked us up all year and for (Tuesday night) for our offense (to come alive).”
The Orioles aren’t in panic mode, though they’d like to take advantage of a seven-game homestand despite starting it 0-2. This is their longest losing streak since dropping six in a row more than two calendar years ago.
“Stay strong mentally,” Orioles catcher James McCann said. “We had rough patches last year and we still won 101 games. The minute you start doubting yourself, it’s when it starts to snowball.”
Jose Ramirez has homered in back-to-back games, while Gabriel Arias and Bo Naylor both provided three hits as part of Cleveland’s 14-hit effort Tuesday. The Guardians scored more than eight runs for the first time this month.
“I’ve been working really hard in the cages on the hitting side,” Naylor said. “It’s just really good to see the results come out.”
Baltimore pitchers were battered.
“One of those nights where we didn’t have our best command and they took full advantage of it,” McCann said.
Right-hander Grayson Rodriguez (8-3, 3.82 ERA) heads to the mound next for the Orioles after giving up seven runs in five innings on Friday to the Houston Astros, absorbing the loss and ending his personal three-game winning streak.
Rodriguez has shown good control this month, yielding four walks while recording 24 strikeouts across his past four games. In his lone matchup with Cleveland, which came last season as a rookie, he gave up two runs in five innings with seven strikeouts in a no-decision in a game the Orioles lost 5-2 last September.
Guardians right-hander Carlos Carrasco (3-6, 5.40) will be aiming to pick up victories in back-to-back games for the first time this season when he starts Wednesday night. He’s coming off Friday’s six-inning stint against the Toronto Blue Jays, who he held to one run in six innings in a 7-1 win.
In eight road outings this year, Carrasco is 1-3 and has surrendered six of the 10 home runs allowed. He has faced the Orioles seven times in his career, posting a 4-2 record and 2.06 ERA across 39 1/3 innings.
Carrasco will have to contend with Baltimore slugger Gunnar Henderson, who smashed his 25th home run of the season Tuesday night and ranks second in the major leagues in home runs. He trails the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge (29).
–Field Level Media
