Tampa Bay @ Baltimore preview
Oriole Park at Camden Yards
Last Meeting ( Aug 15, 2010 ) Baltimore 2, Tampa Bay 3
The Tampa Bay Rays, in the thick of a nasty battle for the American League East crown, have to be happy about taking the field against the Baltimore Orioles for a three-game set starting Friday.
The Rays (82-51) currently trail the New York Yankees by 1 ½ games and do have a comfortable lead in the AL wild card race, sitting 6 ½ games ahead of the Boston Red Sox. They’re in a position to make up some ground this weekend.
Tampa Bay heads into Baltimore riding a 39-15 streak against the Orioles. Joe Maddon’s club has won four of its last five, but the squad’s offense hasn’t been as potent as usual. The Rays have been held to three or fewer runs in four of their last seven. Tampa is averaging 4.95 runs per game, good for fourth-best in the majors.
Tampa Bay, which begins a nine-game road swing with tonight’s game, is one of the best road teams in the majors. The Rays are 39-25 as visitors this season.
Evan Longoria and Carl Crawford have both feasted on the Orioles this year. Longoria is hitting .300 with 12 RBIs while Crawford is batting .359 with seven runs scored against Baltimore pitching.
They may not need a lot of crooked numbers on the board with Matt Garza (13-7, 3.53 ERA) taking the hill. Garza has allowed just five runs over his last five starts and is coming off a solid seven-inning effort against the Boston Red Sox. The 6-foot-4, 215-pounder allowed just one run on six hits while striking out three but didn’t factor in the decision.
Garza is 8-1 lifetime against the Orioles with a 3.14 ERA and he’s a perfect 5-0 starting at Camden Yards.
Baltimore (49-85) counters with Kevin Millwood (3-14, 5.34 ERA), who is coming off one of his best starts of the year. He threw eight shutout innings while striking out five in a 5-0 win over the Los Angeles Angels last weekend to book his first win in eight tries.
Millwood has held his opposition to three or fewer runs in four of his last five after enduring a terrible slump that spanned over almost two months. He allowed at least five runs in eight of 10 starts from June 3 until Aug. 1.
Millwood is 2-2 with a 5.80 ERA in six career starts against the Rays.
The Orioles fell 6-4 to the Boston Red Sox on Thursday night and lost two of three against the Boston. Before that, Baltimore had won five of its last six.