Neither team is particularly good at hitting or pitching. Other than that, it should be a lovely weekend of baseball.
It’s comforting to be in the presence of another struggling team. The Angels aren’t quite as bad as our Orioles. They did just take two of three from the Blue Jays, and they have two more wins than the incoming O’s. At the same time, no one will be confusing them for a playoff contender, even in the mediocre American League.
The Angels offense stinks. Their .650 OPS is 26th in baseball, and they have scored just one more run than the Orioles this season in the same number of games. They can hit some home runs. Their 51 long balls are the fourth-most in MLB. But that comes at the expense of two other categories: walks and strikeouts. They have worked the fewest walks in baseball, and only one team (Rockies) has struck out more.
Logan O’Hoppe and the currently-injured Mike Trout lead the team with nine home runs apiece. Taylor Ward is right behind them with eight. But it is O’Hoppe (138 OPS+) and Zach Neto (148 OPS+) that have been the driving forces of the lineup. Yoán Moncada owns a 133 OPS+ on the season, but that has been in just 11 games. He returned earlier this week after missing a month on the IL.
Things are not much better on the pitching side of things. They own a 5.33 ERA as a staff, and much of that is because the bullpen has been a disaster. Los Angeles’ relievers have a 7.15 ERA. Their most-oft used relievers are Ryan Johnson (14.2 IP, 7.36 ERA), Reid Detmers (14.1 innings, 10.05 ERA), and Brock Burke (14 IP, 5.14 ERA). Kenley Jansen, their closer, has had home run issues this year and has a 6.00 FIP. Their most productive bullpen arm has been Ryan Zeferjahn, who owns a 16.97 K/9 rate and 0.95 xFIP.
We won’t see Trout in this series. He is back on the IL with a bone bruise, but the expectation is that he will be back with the Angels shortly after the Orioles leave town. Anthony Rendon is also perpetually injured. He had hip surgery late in the winter, and likely won’t play at all in 2025.
Game 1: Friday, May 9th, 9:38 p.m., MASN/MASN+
RHP Tomoyuki Sugano (3-2, 3.00 ERA) vs. RHP Kyle Hendricks (1-3, 5.28 ERA)
What is this? An advantageous pitching matchup for the Orioles? It’s rarely seen around these parts. And it comes when the opposing team is sending a pitcher to the mound that used to compete for Cy Young awards.
Hendricks is in his first MLB season away from the Cubs organization. It is not going great for the 35-year-old. It’s because he isn’t striking anyone out (4.70 K/9) and he is walking way too many (3.52 BB/9). That is a bad combo. But he had a terrific start against Detroit last week, when he allowed just one run on four hits, no walks, and three strikeouts over 7.2 innings. So maybe the Orioles are getting him at the wrong time.
You have to wade through all of the horrible things happening for the Orioles to find something good, but when you do it’s likely to be Sugano. His peripherals still aren’t great, but the results have been tremendous. He took a hard luck loss to the Royals last time out despite giving up just two runs over six innings.
Game 2: Saturday, May 10th, 9:38 p.m., MASN/MASN+/MLB Network
RHP Kyle Gibson (0-1, 14.09 ERA) vs. RHP Jack Kochanowicz (1-5, 5.79 ERA)
Gibson was much better in his second start than his first. But he still only lasted four innings. If he can get to the fifth and still only cough up the three runs he did against the Royals in his most recent start, the Orioles will be happy. With a return of Zach Eflin likely in the finale of this series, the O’s should have the roster flexibility within this game to deploy an extra reliever, if needed.
Kochanowicz has lost five straight starts. In that stretch he has a .330/.400/.466 batting line against while walking 11 and striking out 12. Despite having a pretty big fastball (95.4 mph on average), he does not get much swing-and-miss. It sounds like just the type of guy to stymie the Orioles.
Game 3: Sunday, May 11th, 4:07 p.m., MASN 2/MASN+
TBD vs. LHP Tyler Anderson (2-0, 2.68 ERA)
This is expected to be where Zach Eflin (2-1, 3.00 ERA) makes his return from the IL. He has missed a month with a right lat strain, and appears to be ready to go after just one rehab outing. The Orioles could use the help. But there will be serious doubts that the offense can back him up.
The Orioles are hitting .178/.259/.239 against left-handed pitching this season. The late-blooming Anderson has looked great this year and is yet to allow more than three runs in any one start. A soft-tossing lefty with a an ability to make everything he throws move is a bad combination for this Orioles team. Expectations should be low as a result.