Sept. 13 – The Baltimore Orioles don’t have much time to recapture their pre-All-Star break form. With the final 15 games of the regular season finished, they’ll try to end that cycle of mediocrity in a three-game weekend series beginning Friday night in Detroit.
The Orioles (83-64) entered the break 20 games over .500. Since then, they have gone 25-26, two games ahead of the New York Yankees in the AL East.
Baltimore has lost five of its last seven games, including a 5-3, 10-inning loss to Boston on Wednesday. Tyler O’Neill hit a three-run homer off Keegan Akin to give the Red Sox the win.
“We’re in a critical moment right now. We haven’t really played our best ball yet, but I think it’s coming, I really do,” Akin said. “You’re starting to see it a little bit. Just get it together one more time and I think we’ll go from there.”
The biggest issue lately has been the Orioles’ lack of punch on offense. Baltimore has scored just 15 points in those seven games.
Orioles manager Brandon Hyde saw signs of his team waking up from its slumber during Wednesday’s game.
“I thought we were really unfortunate offensively in the last third of the game,” Hyde said. “I thought we made a lot of plays. Credit to them, they made some good plays defensively. But they lost (Wednesday).”
Zach Eflin (10-8, 3.65 ERA) will start the series in Detroit. The right-hander suffered shoulder inflammation during a game in August but returned on Sept. 1 and helped hold Colorado to one run over seven innings.
In Saturday’s final game, Eflin gave up three runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings against Tampa Bay, which had his five-game win streak snapped.
Eflin made his only career start last season against Detroit, allowing one run in five innings.
The Tigers have not yet named a starter for Friday’s game. Detroit lost to the Colorado Rockies 4-2 at home on Thursday afternoon, snapping its four-game winning streak. Spencer Torkelson had a double in the Tigers’ only two games.
Detroit entered the weekend 3 1/2 games behind the Minnesota Twins for the final AL wild card spot.
“All the losses (stunk),” Torkelson said. “I don’t think it matters what the outcome is. Just losing is (bad). They beat us today and that’s it. Come back tomorrow and be ready to go.”
A playoff spot was not expected to be on the cards when the Tigers were sold before the trade deadline.
“I’ve seen the lows,” catcher Jack Rogers said. “Looking back at 2019 and seeing what we’ve accomplished now. Winning is fun, man. Everybody on the club, I hope they can feel what it’s like to be in the hunt in September and be able to move forward. We have a good enough team to do that.
American Cy Young Award-winning star Tarik Skubal was injured on a line drive on Thursday, causing a major scare for the Tigers. However, he remained in the game and initial X-rays came back negative.
Manager AJ Hinch said: “It’s a scary situation and you’ve got to hold your breath until you get the full range of tests.”
–Visual-level media
