Maybe a few good innings can revive the Baltimore Orioles.
After a stagnant stretch, the Orioles will start a homestand with a little extra jump when they oppose the Kansas City Royals on Friday night.
The Orioles are coming off a 6-3 victory at Milwaukee on Thursday that snapped a two-game skid, as they scored all of their runs in the last three innings to erase a 3-0 deficit. They are returning from a 3-3 road trip that also included a visit to San Francisco.
“Going 3-3 on the road feels a lot better than going 2-4,” Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde said. “Especially the way we came back.”
The comeback win against the Brewers might be the lift the Orioles need. They didn’t lead until Gunnar Henderson hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning. The 366-foot blast was the seventh homer of the season for the 21-year-old infielder.
“It just shows you the power he has,” Hyde said. “He doesn’t need to try to pull the ball, doesn’t need to try to do too much.”
For Henderson, it was a thrill, and perhaps more important, a boost for the Orioles.
“We knew it was only a matter of time,” he said. “We’re going to fight no matter what the score is.”
As for Friday’s game, given that there have been a few postponements this week on the East Coast because of concerns about air quality stemming from Canadian wildfires, Orioles officials said they would monitor the situation in conjunction with Major League Baseball.
The Royals have lost three in a row and six of their past seven games. During that stretch, they scored more than two runs only twice. The misery perhaps heightened when they managed just one run in each of the last two games during a three-game series at Miami that ended on Wednesday.
“Is it frustrating that we haven’t scored? Yeah,” said Royals manager Matt Quatraro, whose team posted a total of eight hits in those two games. “The process is good, and they compete.”
The Orioles will send right-hander Tyler Wells (4-2, 3.29 ERA) to the mound on Friday. Wells has logged at least five innings in all 12 starts this season. He had a career-high nine strikeouts on Sunday in a victory at San Francisco, when he gave up two runs in 5 1/3 innings.
Wells has faced the Royals six times and is 3-0 with a 3.54 ERA in those games. He has more wins against Kansas City than against any other team.
Left-hander Daniel Lynch (0-1, 4.35 ERA) will be the starting pitcher for the Royals.
Lynch, who will be in his third game of the season after coming off the injured list, has worked at least five innings in both of his starts. In his latest outing, he gave up five runs (three earned) in the first inning against Colorado on Saturday, but they he blanked the Rockies over the next four innings.
“To stay in it mentally there when you get down five speaks volume to what he’s capable of doing,” Quatraro said. “His stuff looked good, and he trusted it and he got back in the zone.”
Lynch took losses in both career outings against the Orioles, giving up six runs (five earned) in nine innings in two games last year.
The Royals, who had Thursday off, were outscored 21-8 in the three games at Miami.
Kansas City second baseman Michael Massey went 0-for-6 against the Marlins, leaving him 1-for-13 in five June games.
Baltimore won two of three games in early May at Kansas City, averaging 12 runs in the two victories and getting shut out in the loss.
–Field Level Media
