After Thursday’s off-day, the Orioles return to Oriole Park tonight to open a three-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays. It extends a 14-game run of playing all American League East adversaries.
The Orioles (35-19) are on a 105-win pace after Wednesday’s 6-1 victory against the Boston Red Sox. They won that series with Boston and extended to 18 their streak of series over AL East opponents without dropping one. They are 39-19 (.672) in this stretch of series inside the division. The Orioles improved to 5-1 against Boston, scoring 43 runs in six games, and to 9-3 on the year against AL East opponents.
Against a Boston pitching staff that began that series rated second in the AL in team ERA (3.09) and starting rotation ERA (2.95), the Orioles scored 20 runs in the series on 27 hits with seven doubles, a triple and two homers, and they went 9-for-28 batting with runners in scoring position.
In the six games this season versus Boston, the Orioles have a team hitting line of .271/.346/.449/.793. And in 12 AL East games in 2024 they have scored 61 runs with a .723 team OPS.
Winners of six of their past seven games, the Orioles are 19-11 at home and 12-4-2 in 18 series on the year.
Gunnar Henderson smashed his 50th big league home run – with his second career grand slam – in the bottom of the second inning Wednesday to create a 5-1 advantage. It was his 18th homer of this season. Henderson has homered six times his past 13 games, eight in the last 19 and 15 in his last 39 games. His other slam came on June 13, 2023 versus Toronto.
He became the fourth player in team history to have 50 homers before his 23rd birthday, joining Manny Machado, Eddie Murray and Boog Powell. Henderson was 0-for-4 this season with three strikeouts with the bases loaded until connecting on Kutter Crawford’s 1-0 sweeper, which Henderson smashed 422 feet.
On the mound, winning pitcher Corbin Burnes allowed three hits and one unearned run over seven innings, throwing 108 pitches, an O’s season record. He is presently 5-2 and his 2.35 ERA is lower than the 2.43 mark he posted when he won the 2021 National League Cy Young Award.
As of Thursday, the O’s 3.03 rotation ERA was second-best in the AL and third-best in the major leagues. Over the last five games, the O’s have a 1.24 rotation ERA. In 15 games since May 13, the starters have pitched to an ERA of 2.14 with seven quality starts.
The Tampa Bay Rays (28-29) overcame Oakland 6-5 at home in 12 innings Thursday to win that series and completing a 3-6 homestand. The Rays went 0-3 against Boston, 1-2 versus Kansas City and 2-1 against Oakland.
Tampa Bay has won three of its last four after losing six in a row, and overall has dropped seven of its past 10 games. Since they were 14-18 on May 1, the Rays are 14-11.
Tampa Bay is 11-11 on the road and 9-11 against AL East clubs. Tampa Bay is 8-8-2 in series play. When the Rays score three runs or fewer, they are 6-20, while when scoring four or more they are 22-9.
Right-hander Albert Suárez (2-0, 1.53 ERA) gets the start for the O’s tonight, making his 12th appearance and fifth start. He threw four scoreless innings in his start last Saturday at Chicago. The O’s are 3-1 in his starts. In those four games exclusively, he is 1-0 with a 1.86 ERA. He has tossed 9 2/3 scoreless innings over his past six outings.
Righty Aaron Civale (2-4, 5.72 ERA) gets the start for Tampa Bay. He opened the year with a 2.74 ERA over four starts. But in his last seven outings, is 0-3 with a 7.75 ERA and .870 OPS against. In three career starts versus the Orioles he is 2-0 with a 6.75 ERA.
Attendance note from the team: Oriole Park at Camden Yards has drawn 764,016 fans to begin this season, up 27 percent from 602,069 during the first 30 games last year. The 27 percent gain is the second-biggest jump in the majors after the defending National League Champion Arizona Diamondbacks. The club’s average attendance of 25,467 in 2024 is up from 20,069 in 2023.
