These guys again?
So it’s April 19th and the Orioles are playing the Royals for their second and final series of the season. That’s just weird. When the Orioles played them at home in their second series of the year, we all thought the Royals would be a pretty easy opponent. Better than they were last year, sure, but still quite beatable.
The Orioles did take two out of three in that series, but it was far from a sure thing. Both wins were walk-offs that could have gone either way and the Royals pitching held the Orioles offense in check throughout the series.
Upon leaving Baltimore the Royals won seven games in a row, sweeping both the White Sox and Astros. Their overall record is 12-7, just a half-game worse than the Orioles. Their run differential of +40 is the best in baseball resulting in a Pythagorean W-L record of 14-5.
Their pitching has been excellent. The team ERA is just 2.79, second in baseball. Their starters are averaging 5.9 innings/start, the best in baseball.
The Royals offense hasn’t been as potent as the pitching but it has held its own. Led by Bobby Witt, Jr. who is OPS’ing just a hair under 1.000, the Royals have some hitters doing very well and some who are not so great. Joining Witt in the doing well category is Salvador Perez, who feels like he has been around forever (he’s 34). Perez has a team-leading five home runs and an OPS of .943.
Joining the party are Vinny Pasquantino and MJ Melendez, who are just 26 and 25 years old, are also doing well.
So are the Royals for real? It’s too soon to know for sure of course. But they have several young talented players and they play in the AL Central where the standings are a free for all.
Game 1: Friday, April 19, 7:40pm EDT
RHP Dean Kremer (3 GS, 16.1 IP, 4.96 ERA / 5.04 FIP) vs RHP Alec Marsh (3 GS, 16.2 IP, 4.32 ERA / 3.32 FIP)
The Orioles did not fare well against Marsh back on April 2nd. In that game, Marsh held them to just one run on two hits in seven innings. Since then Marsh has not been as good with seven earned runs in 9.2 innings over his next two starts. Which version will the Orioles see?
Kremer is coming off of a disastrous start vs the Brewers. He gave up six earned runs (eight total) in just four innings. He faced the Royals on April 2nd with a 5.1 inning start and three runs allowed.
Game 2: Saturday, April 20, 7:10pm EDT
RHP Corbin Burnes (4 GS, 23.2 IP, 2.29 ERA / 3.24 FIP) vs LHP Cole Ragans (4 GS, 23.1 IP, 1.93 ERA / 2.30 FIP)
Ragans is having a fantastic start to the year. He’s pitched four good games this year including 6.1 IP of scoreless baseball against the Royals on April 3rd.
As expected, Burnes has been on a string of strong starts since he got here. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the streak continues.
Game 3: Sunday, April 21st, 2:10 PM EDT
LHP Cole Irvin (3 GS, 14.2 IP, 6.75 ERA / 4.50 FIP) vs RHP Seth Lugo (4 GS, 25.2 IP, 1.05 ERA / 3.01 FIP)
The Orioles missed Seth Lugo when these teams met last week, and given how good he’s been that probably makes them happy. Lugo has already gotten to face the White Sox twice which might have helped him to pad those stats a little bit.
As for Irvin, well, hope for the best. His pitches did seem to have good movement in his last start but the results were not there. We can only hope that Irvin can turn it around or be replaced by John Means soon.