DETROIT TIGERS NOTES:
TIGERS DROP FINALE TO GUARDIANS: The Tigers had their five-game winning streak snapped on Wednesday as they lost to the Guardians, 3-2. Spencer Torkelson had a pair of hits, including a double and a solo home run, while Kerry Carpenter went 2×4. Zach McKinstry added a pinch hit solo homer. Spencer Turnbull started for Detroit and took the loss, allowing three runs on three hits with three walks and three strikeouts in 5.1 innings. Tyler Alexander, Alex Lange and José Cisnero combined to throw 3.2 scoreless innings in relief.
GAME TIME ANNOUNCED FOR TIGERS-GIANTS RESCHEDULED GAME: The Tigers announced today that their rescheduled game against the Giants on Monday, July 24 will start at 1:10 p.m.
FULLY TORKED: Spencer Torkelson launched his second home run of the season in Wednesday’s game, hitting a solo shot in the seventh inning. The ball left his bat at 109.8 MPH, his second-hardest hit ball of the season. Torkelson has hit safely in four consecutive games and in seven
of his last nine contests, over which he is hitting .278 (10×36) with three doubles, a home run and four RBI.
BULLPENNING AT ITS BEST: The Tigers bullpen combined to throw 3.2 scoreless innings in Wednesday’s game against Cleveland. After posting a 6.85 ERA (44.2IP/34ER) through the first 12 games of the season, the performance of Detroit’s bullpen has been one of the main reasons for the team’s success in recent games. Over their last six games, Tigers relievers have combined for a 1.08 ERA (25.0IP/3ER), which is the lowest in the Majors since April 13.
ZACH ATTACK: Zach McKinstry hit his first home run of the season in Wednesday’s game, hitting a pinch-hit solo shot off James Karinchak in the
eighth inning. It marked his first career pinch-hit homer and was the first for a Tigers player since Victor Reyes on August 27, 2021 vs. Toronto. McKinstry has hit safely in four of his last five games, going 5×13 with two doubles, a home run and three RBI.
MIGGY AGAINST THE O’S: Miguel Cabrera has had success in his career against Baltimore, entering tonight’s game hitting .360/.444/.678 with 16 doubles, one triple, 27 home runs and 80 RBI in 85 career games. Among active players with at least 100 at-bats against Baltimore, Cabrera ranks first in on-base percentage, fourth in slugging percentage and fifth in batting average.
RECAPPING THE HOMESTAND: The Tigers went 4-1 on their recently completed five-game homestand, going 2-0 vs. San Francisco and 2-1 vs. Cleveland. Detroit hit .261/.304/.422 during the homestand, while the pitching staff had a 2.94 ERA (49.0IP/16ER). Individually, Eric Haase finished the homestand 7×15 with a double, while Javier Báez went 7×20 with two doubles and six RBI.
TIGERS AND ORIOLES: The Tigers and Orioles begin their seven-game season series tonight. Along with the three games this weekend, the two teams will play a four-game series next weekend in Detroit. The Tigers went 5-1 against Baltimore last season, including taking two-of-three games in Baltimore. Detroit has won the season series over the Orioles in each of the last five seasons the two teams have played.
TIGERS ON THE IL:
• RHP Beau Brieske (right upper arm discomfort, 15-day IL on March 30, retroactive to March 27)
• RHP Matt Manning (right foot fracture, 15-day IL on April 8, retroactive to April 7)
• OF Austin Meadows (anxiety, 15-day IL on April 12)
• RHP Casey Mize (right elbow sprain, 60-day IL on February 17)
• RHP Freddy Pacheco (right elbow sprain, 60-day IL on March 27)
• LHP Tarik Skubal (left elbow strain, 60-day IL on March 14)
TONIGHT’S TIGERS STARTING PITCHER – Michael Lorenzen • 0-0, 13.50 ERA (4.0IP/6ER)
• Lorenzen will make his second start of the season tonight in the series opener at Baltimore.
• Made his Tigers regular season debut on Saturday against the Giants and received a no decision, allowing six runs on eight hits with two walks and six strikeouts in 4.0 innings. • Has made just one career appearance against the Orioles, pitching in relief on April 19, 2017 and allowing two hits with a strikeout in 1.0 inning…will be making his first career appearance at Oriole Park at Camden Yards tonight…will be the 29th different ballpark he has pitched in his career…after tonight, the only active ballpark he will not have pitched in is Boston’s Fenway Park.
• Started 18 games with the Angels in 2022 and went 8-6 with a 4.24 ERA (97.2IP/46ER) and 85 strikeouts…finished the season strong, posting a 2-0 record with a 2.36 ERA (26.2IP/7ER) and 30 strikeouts over five starts from September 9-October 4.
BALTIMORE ORIOLES NOTES:
SHUT OUT THE NOISE: Kyle Bradish threw 6.0 scoreless innings on five hits with one walk and six strikeouts and the bullpen quartet of Bryan Baker (1.0 IP, 2 K), Cionel Pérez (0.1 IP, 2 BB, K), Yennier Cano (0.2 IP), and Mike Baumann (1.0 IP, H, 2 K) combined to shut out the Nationals, 4-0, Wednesday night at Nationals Park…Marked Baltimore’s first sweep of the season.
The Orioles have won back-to-back shutouts for the first time since September 22-23, 2022; the O’s have also won three straight games for the first time since September 21-23, 2022.
The Orioles have now thrown three shutouts this year (also 4/3 at TEX, 4/18 at WSH); since the start of last season, the O’s have 18 shutouts, fifth-most in the AL and seventh-most in MLB; Baltimore had 11 total shutouts in 384 games from 2019-21.
GOING STREAKING: Orioles pitchers have not allowed a run in 26.0 consecutive innings beginning in the second inning on Sunday, April 16, at Chicago-AL; marks the team’s longest scoreless streak since a 28.0-inning stretch from August 3-6, 2012.
WRAPPING UP THE ROAD TRIP: Baltimore went 4-1 on the last road trip against the White Sox (2-1) and Nationals (2-0)…O’s pitchers combined for a 2.60 ERA (13 ER/45.0 IP) with 44 strikeouts, including a 1.08 ERA (2 ER/16.2 IP) and 20 strikeouts by the ‘pen.
HOME SWEET HOME: The O’s begin a six-game homestand tonight with the first of three games against the Tigers…The Orioles will then host the Red Sox from April 24-26…Baltimore went 4-3 (.571) in their season-opening homestand against the Yankees (1-2) and Athletics (3-1) from April 7-13.
AGAINST THE TIGERS: The O’s and Tigers open their three-game set at Oriole Park tonight…Baltimore and Detroit will play seven times in 2023 with the Orioles traveling to Comerica Park from April 27-30…The Birds went 1-5 against the Tigers last season, including being swept in three games in Detroit from May 13-15 and going 1-2 in Baltimore from September 19-21.
LOOKING AHEAD: Following the current homestand, the Birds embark on the longest road trip of the season with four games at Detroit from April 27-30, an off day on May 1, three games at Kansas City from May 2-4, and three games at Atlanta from May 5-7.
ON THE ATTACK: Baltimore is batting .249/.348/.428 (149-for-598) with 34 doubles, two triples, 23 home runs, 99 runs scored, 96 RBI, and 87 walks to start the season… The O’s rank fourth in the AL and seventh in MLB in runs scored after finishing 10th in the AL and 20th in MLB with 674 runs scored in 2022…The Birds are fourth in MLB in on-base percentage while ranking among AL teams in walks (1st), slugging percentage (2nd), and OPS (2nd, .776).
The Orioles lead MLB with 4.11 pitches-per-plate appearance this season; the O’s have three players in the top eight in the AL in pitches-per-plate appearance: Adam Frazier (3rd, 4.48), Anthony Santander (T-6th, 4.33), and Adley Rutschman (8th, 4.329).
NEED FOR SPEED: The O’s have 25 stolen bases, trailing only the Guardians (26 SB) for the most in MLB this season…The 25 steals through the first 18 games of the year are the most in O’s history (since 1954) to open a campaign…The O’s have only been caught stealing three times for an 89.3 percent success rate…Cedric Mullins is tied with Chicago-NL’s Nico Hoerner for the MLB lead with nine stolen bases while Jorge Mateo is tied for second in the AL and third in MLB with eight steals…The duo’s 17 combined stolen bases are more than 21 MLB teams while six teams have eight or fewer steals to start 2023.
Mullins’ nine successful stolen bases are the most to begin a season by an Oriole since Adam Jones also swiped his first nine attempts in 2013; the last Orioles to steal 10-or-more bases successfully without being caught to begin a season are Brian Roberts and Corey Patterson, who each swiped their first 13 attempts, an O’s record, to begin 2006.
BIG TIME RUTSCH: Adley Rutschman had his career-high 13-game on-base streak snapped Tuesday night…He reached base at a .492 clip from April 3-16…Rutschman is still third in the AL and seventh in MLB with a .447 on-base percentage and leads the AL with 17 walks this season…He also ranks among AL leaders in OPS (8th, .962).
His 38 times reaching base safely this season lead the AL and rank tied for third in MLB (see chart at right); Rutschman did not reach safely 38 times last year until his 35th game on July 4; he is the only MLB player this season to reach safely at least four times in four different games.
He has hit four home runs this season, tied with Atlana’s Sean Murphy and Los Angeles-AL’s Logan O’Hoppe for the most among primary catchers; last year, Rutschman didn’t hit his fourth homer until his 38th game on July 7.
RISING TIDE: The Orioles are ranked as the No. 1 farm system by MLB Pipeline…Marks the fourth consecutive time between the preseason and midseason lists that the O’s are in the top spot…Since Pipeline began ranking systems in 2015, only one other organization has claimed the top spot four times in a row, and that was the Padres (2018 pre/mid, 2019 pre/mid)…Baltimore is also ranked as the No. 1 farm system by ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel, as well as in Baseball America’s preseason rankings for the first time since the publication began their Organizational Talent Rankings in 1984.
STARTING PITCHER – #68 TYLER WELLS – RHP
QUICK HITS: Slated to make his fourth appearance (third start) of the season tonight against the Tigers…Went 7-7 with a 4.25 ERA (49 ER/103.2 IP) in 23 starts for the O’s in 2022…Made his first career start on April 10, 2022 at Tampa Bay; dealt the loss after allowing four runs on three hits (1 HR) with two walks and two strikeouts in 1.2 innings…Did not walk a batter in five consecutive starts from April 21 to May 15, becoming the only Oriole starting pitcher in franchise history (since 1954) to not walk a batter in five consecutive games…Allowed three earned runs-or-fewer in 17 straight starts from April 16 to July 15…Ended the 2022 season on the 15-day Injured List with right shoulder inflammation… Originally selected by Minnesota in the 15th round of the 2016 First-Year Player Draft out of Cal State, San Bernardino before being taken by the Orioles in the Rule 5 Draft on December 10, 2020.
LAST TIME OUT: Did not factor into the decision in his first road start of the season on April 14 at Chicago-AL, allowing three runs on five hits (1 HR) with one walk and three strikeouts in 5.1 innings of work…Has issued one free pass in 16.1 innings across his first three appearances this season…Threw 85 pitches, 55 strikes.
SEASON DEBUT: Did not factor in the decision in his season debut on April 3 at Texas, recording two strikeouts in 5.0 innings of scoreless relief, facing one batter over the minimum; the only baserunner reached on an error…Originally scheduled to start on April 4 at Texas but entered in relief in the fourth inning on April 3 after Kyle Bradish exited the game in the second inning with a right foot contusion.
CAREER AGAINST DETROIT: Making his fourth career appearance (third start) against the Tigers…Owns an 0-2 record with a 9.00 ERA (8 ER/8.0 IP) in his three appearances against Detroit…Dealt the loss in his last start against the Tigers on September 19, 2022, allowing five runs on four hits with three walks and three strikeouts in 3.0+ innings of work.
CAREER AGAINST AL CENTRAL: Making his 18th career appearance (ninth start) against the AL Central…Owns a 4-3 record with a 3.91 ERA (22 ER/50.2 IP) and a save through his first 17 appearances…Did not factor into the decision in his last start against the AL Central on April 14 at Chicago-AL…Made seven starts against the division in 2022, going 3-2 with a 4.24 ERA (16 ER/34.0 IP) and three quality starts.
LOVING LEFTIES: Opposing left-handed batters are slashing .185/.219/.315 (50-for-270) against Wells through his first 70 career games (25 GS)…He has recorded more career strikeouts against lefties (73) than hits allowed (50)… Owns the fifth-lowest on-base percentage allowed to lefties (.219) in MLB since the start of the 2021 season (min. 230 BFP), while his batting average against left-handed batters (.185) is the 14th-lowest in the Majors in that span (min. 230 BFP).
ALL HE DOES IS WIN, WIN, WIN: Wells won five straight starts from June 11 to July 3, 2022, tied for the fifth-longest streak in MLB last season…Pitched to a 1.93 ERA (6 ER/28.0 IP) with 21 strikeouts to eight walks in that span, holding opposing batters to a .168 (17-for-101) batting average…The O’s owned a 9-5 record in his final 14 starts, including wins in eight straight from May 30 to July 8, after going 2-7 in his first nine outings.
