The Orioles are coming off a series in Seattle that could have turned disastrous at many points—a nine-inning shutout by opposing starter George Kirby, a Mike Baumann blown save, Shintaro Fujinami being asked to conquer his nerves and get a save… But thanks to clutch pitching and some late-innings heroics, the Orioles managed to end in the win column and pad their AL East lead to 3 games. Now the West Coast tour swings south to San Diego.
Like the LA Angels, the Padres are a star-studded team that isn’t gelling the way people had expected. They’ve dealt with a ton of pitcher injuries—starters Joe Musgrove and Michael Wacha, relievers Adrian Morejón, Tim Hill and Reiss Knehr.