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After sweeping the White Sox and winning their second series from the Royals the Guardians pack their bags for their second road trip. Following this six-gamer the G’s will have played 15 of their first 21 games on the road. If they’re in first or second place after this trip I’d say they’re in great shape.
First stop is Baltimore. The O’s are 6-9 overall and have lost 7 of their last 10. In those 10 games they hit .197/.578. After scoring 32 runs in their first five games they’ve scored only 23 in their last 10. Not hard to figure that run per game average.
That being said, their main problem is starting pitching. The O’s starters rank 29th in ERA and last in average exit velocity and hard hit percentage. The staff as a whole ranks 27th in WHIP and OPS. Their defense isn’t helping; it ranks 27th according to Fangraphs. The first two starters the Guardians face have ERA’s of 8.78 and 8.16.
Their best starter has been Zach Eflin (2-1, 3.00) and he just went on the IL. He joins injured starters Grayson Rodriguez and Kyle Bradish, who have yet to throw a pitch this year.
Offensively the O’s are 12th in runs per game at 4.40 but as noted earlier, they were great the first five games and awful the last 10. They are 13th in home run percentage and 15th in extra base hit percentage, so they’re average in the power department. They’re pretty much average across the board offensively if you look at all 15 games.
Cedric Mullins is off to a great start hitting .277/.967. Mullins has 16 RBI’s; none of his teammates have more than 8. Mullins used to be their leadoff hitter but he’s been primarily their #5 hitter so far this year.
LF Tyler O’Neill is at .289/.899. C Adley Rutschmann is at .259/.807 and 3B Ramon Urias is at .343/.782. The 30-year-old Urias hit .254/.745 last year, which is right on his career numbers. 11 of his 12 hits have been singles.
Star shortstop Gunnar Henderson is off to a slow start at .206/.523. Get him before he gets going.
The pitching matchups are:
Logan Allen (0-1, 3.60) vs. Charlie Morton (0-3, 8.78).
Gavin Williams (1-0, 3.46) vs. Dean Kremer (1-2, 8.16)
Tanner Bibee (1-1, 4.40) vs. Tomoyuki Sugano (1-1, 3.86)
The O’s have struggled against lefties, hitting .213/.551 against a more robust .242/.723 against right-handers. So Allen might have a good outing against them. Mullins is 1-for-7 against lefties.
Allen has only started two games. He was roughed up by the Padres and dominated the White Sox. Offensively the O’s are somewhere in between those teams.
Morton, a 41-year-old right-hander, is getting smacked around pretty good. In three starts he’s allowed 13 earned runs in 13.1 innings. His home run to fly ball ratio is 21% against a career average of 12%. His Stuff+ grade is an 86, meaning his pitchers have been 14% easier to hit than the average pitcher. He has 17 strikeouts so he can still miss bats, but the long ball has been getting him.
The Guardians have momentum having won 5 of 6 while the O’s have negative momentum after losing 7 of 10 and averaging 2.3 runs per game. All three Baltimore starters this series are right-handed and the Guardians are loaded with left-handed hitters, so it seems the Guardians have the edge, especially with how badly the Birds have been swinging the bats lately. Barely any offense and second to worst starting pitching is not a good combination.
The Guardians appear to be catching the Birds at a good time. Hopefully they can win the series. Just win every series 2-1 and you’ll be fine at the end of the season.
First stop is Baltimore. The O’s are 6-9 overall and have lost 7 of their last 10. In those 10 games they hit .197/.578. After scoring 32 runs in their first five games they’ve scored only 23 in their last 10. Not hard to figure that run per game average.
That being said, their main problem is starting pitching. The O’s starters rank 29th in ERA and last in average exit velocity and hard hit percentage. The staff as a whole ranks 27th in WHIP and OPS. Their defense isn’t helping; it ranks 27th according to Fangraphs. The first two starters the Guardians face have ERA’s of 8.78 and 8.16.
Their best starter has been Zach Eflin (2-1, 3.00) and he just went on the IL. He joins injured starters Grayson Rodriguez and Kyle Bradish, who have yet to throw a pitch this year.
Offensively the O’s are 12th in runs per game at 4.40 but as noted earlier, they were great the first five games and awful the last 10. They are 13th in home run percentage and 15th in extra base hit percentage, so they’re average in the power department. They’re pretty much average across the board offensively if you look at all 15 games.
Cedric Mullins is off to a great start hitting .277/.967. Mullins has 16 RBI’s; none of his teammates have more than 8. Mullins used to be their leadoff hitter but he’s been primarily their #5 hitter so far this year.
LF Tyler O’Neill is at .289/.899. C Adley Rutschmann is at .259/.807 and 3B Ramon Urias is at .343/.782. The 30-year-old Urias hit .254/.745 last year, which is right on his career numbers. 11 of his 12 hits have been singles.
Star shortstop Gunnar Henderson is off to a slow start at .206/.523. Get him before he gets going.
The pitching matchups are:
Logan Allen (0-1, 3.60) vs. Charlie Morton (0-3, 8.78).
Gavin Williams (1-0, 3.46) vs. Dean Kremer (1-2, 8.16)
Tanner Bibee (1-1, 4.40) vs. Tomoyuki Sugano (1-1, 3.86)
The O’s have struggled against lefties, hitting .213/.551 against a more robust .242/.723 against right-handers. So Allen might have a good outing against them. Mullins is 1-for-7 against lefties.
Allen has only started two games. He was roughed up by the Padres and dominated the White Sox. Offensively the O’s are somewhere in between those teams.
Morton, a 41-year-old right-hander, is getting smacked around pretty good. In three starts he’s allowed 13 earned runs in 13.1 innings. His home run to fly ball ratio is 21% against a career average of 12%. His Stuff+ grade is an 86, meaning his pitchers have been 14% easier to hit than the average pitcher. He has 17 strikeouts so he can still miss bats, but the long ball has been getting him.
The Guardians have momentum having won 5 of 6 while the O’s have negative momentum after losing 7 of 10 and averaging 2.3 runs per game. All three Baltimore starters this series are right-handed and the Guardians are loaded with left-handed hitters, so it seems the Guardians have the edge, especially with how badly the Birds have been swinging the bats lately. Barely any offense and second to worst starting pitching is not a good combination.
The Guardians appear to be catching the Birds at a good time. Hopefully they can win the series. Just win every series 2-1 and you’ll be fine at the end of the season.
