Tyler Wells and the Orioles shoot for a winning month of June.
The Orioles kick off a three-game series in Seattle against the fourth-place Mariners, first pitch at 10:10 Eastern time, for all you night owls out there. As Mark Brown pointed out in his series preview, Orioles pitchers have performed way better at home than on the road, with a 4.84 away ERA and a 3.27 one at home. (Mt. Walltimore must feel so proud right now.)
Big righty Tyler Wells, for his part, has typified this trend. His road ERA (4.25) is more than two runs higher than it is at home (2.20), a gap that’s also boosted by his early struggles in the season. But Wells has been strong in his last seven games, with a 2.70 ERA in that stretch. Wells also has reverse splits: he’s better against lefties, to the tune of 142 points of OPS. The Mariners are lefty-heavy, but there will be four right-handed hitters in the lineup tonight.
George Kirby (3.12 ERA, 3.75 FIP in nine starts), the Mariners’ first round pick in 2019, has had bad hard-hit numbers so far, notwithstanding his good ERA. Like Wells, he also has reverse splits, with righty batters posting a .315/.351/.576 slash line against him. With lefties Jonathan Araúz and Rougned Odor getting starts in the infield tonight, that fact doesn’t seem to have factored too much into the Orioles’ lineup so much as the idea of fielding a competitive lineup! Which I’m OK with.
If the Orioles win tonight, they are in line for their first winning month since 2017. Let’s go O’s!
Orioles lineup
1. Cedric Mullins CF
2. Trey Mancini DH
3. Anthony Santander LF
4. Austin Hays RF
5. Adley Rutschman C
6. Ryan Mountcastle 1B
7. Rougned Odor 2B
8. Jonathan Araúz 3B
9. Jorge Mateo SS
Mariners lineup
1. J.P. Crawford SS
2. Julio Rodriguez CF
3. Jesse Winker LF
4. Eugenio Suárez 3B
5. Taylor Trammell RF
6. Cal Raleigh C
7. Justin Upton DH
8. Adam Frazier 2B
9. Dylan Moore 1B