Baltimore @ Tampa Bay preview
Tropicana Field
Last Meeting ( Jul 21, 2010 ) Tampa Bay 5, Baltimore 4
The suddenly hot Baltimore Orioles look to keep their best stretch of baseball of the season going this weekend during a three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays that begins Friday.
The Orioles are 8-2 in Buck Showalter’s first 10 games as manager, combining good pitching with potent hitting for a sharp turnaround from a dismal first four-plus months.
Baltimore (40-75) still has the worst record in baseball and has struggled mightily against American League East opponents with a 10-35 record. The Rays will be the first division rival the Orioles have faced since Showalter took over.
Under Showalter, Baltimore has swept the Los Angeles Angels, took three of four from the Chicago White Sox and two of three from the Cleveland Indians.
Thursday’s loss to Cleveland prevented Showalter from matching Davey Johnson’s 1996 franchise record of going 9-1 over his first 10 games.
The Baltimore offense has been terrific with two-time All-Star second baseman Brian Roberts rounding into form and the trio of Adam Jones, Luke Scott and Felix Pie all swinging hot sticks.
Roberts, who missed three-plus months with a back injury and an illness, is batting .314 over the past nine games. Jones is hitting .391 over the last dozen games while Scott has a .349 average with four homers and 10 RBIs in his last 11 contests. Pie is hitting .362 over the last 12 games.
Baltimore’s starting pitching has been solid. Jeremy Guthrie, who starts tonight, is 2-0 under Showalter as part of a solid five-start stretch.
Guthrie allowed four runs and 11 hits in 15 innings while beating the Angels and White Sox and has allowed just seven earned runs in 35 2/3 innings for a 1.77 earned-run average over his last five outings.
The right-hander is 3-1 during that stretch to raise his record to 6-11 with a 4.04 ERA.
Guthrie is 0-2 with a 4.05 ERA in two starts against the Rays this season and is 3-7 against them in his career.
Tampa Bay center fielder B.J. Upton has nine RBIs and a .346 average in 26 career at-bats against Guthrie. First baseman Carlos Pena (.391) and left field Carl Crawford (.343) have also fared well against Guthrie.
Third baseman Evan Longoria is only a .214 career hitter against Guthrie. He has struggled since the All-Star break, hitting just .245 with two homers and 11 RBIs in 26 games.
Prior to the break, Longoria had a .300 average with 13 homers and 61 RBIs in 87 games.
James Shields starts for Tampa Bay and will be trying to atone for a horrific outing in which he gave up six homers to the Toronto Blue Jays during a 17-11 loss.
Shields has allowed a major league-leading 28 homers after being roughed up for eight runs and nine hits in four innings by Toronto.
Shields (10-10, 4.91 ERA) has a 7-2 career mark and 3.15 ERA in 17 outings against the Orioles. He is 1-0 with a 5.11 ERA in two starts this season.
The Orioles’ Jones has a .455 average in 22 career at-bats against Shields.