Orioles look to gain more ground on Angels
BALTIMORE -- The Baltimore Orioles started the weekend series with the Los Angeles Angels by doing what they've done all season -- play winning baseball at home.
They rallied from an early five-run deficit to hit five homers and scored a 9-7 victory over the Angels Friday. Now, the Orioles will try to keep this roll at Camden Yards going on Saturday night.
The victory improved Baltimore (60-62) to 36-23 at home -- compared to 24-39 on the road. Orioles manager Buck Showalter said he doesn't worry about the past; he just wants them to keep winning.
Showalter knows the Orioles have 40 games left and are fighting for a wild-card spot. They now are two games behind the Angels (62-60) and the Minnesota Twins (61-59), who are deadlocked for the last wild-card berth.
"You don't think about what it might have been," Showalter said. "You play again tomorrow and you play the next day and there's an opportunity around every corner. It has that potential always, but it depends on how we pitch tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day."
Both teams hit five homers in Friday's Baltimore win, but Manny Machado has finally gotten going. He's hit three grand slams in 11 games and given the Orioles a big lift, including his walk-off grand slam Friday, a game where Machado finished with seven RBI.
"I know sometimes because of how fluid he is, sometimes people don't know how much he cares and how hard he works," Showalter said. "For a young player to go through the struggles he did with that kind of talent, to get back is a real testament to him and his makeup."
In the middle game of the series, Kevin Gausman (9-8, 5.08) will start for the Orioles versus JC Ramirez (10-10, 4.26). Gausman has pitched much better in the second half of the season, giving a boost to an inconsistent starting rotation.
The right-hander's last outing came on Aug. 14 in an 11-3 victory over the Mariners in Seattle. He allowed two runs on six hits in seven innings as the Orioles won the first game of that three-game series.
Gausman has a 1-2 career mark against the Angels along with a 5.11 ERA.
Ramirez has an 0-1 career record with a 7.27 ERA versus Baltimore. The last time he pitched against the Orioles was last week, taking the loss in a 6-2 Baltimore win.
He gave up six runs on eight hits in seven innings in that loss, the big hit being a Machado grand slam.
For the Orioles, Chris Davis and Welington Castillo both missed Friday's game due to undisclosed illness. There might be more news about them on Saturday.
Baltimore also has not announced a starter for Sunday's series finale but there's a chance it could be Chris Tillman. His last two appearances have come from the bullpen after losing his regular spot in the rotation by going 1-7 in his first 15 starts.
The Angels placed starter Tyler Skaggs on the bereavement list Friday (three days) due to the death of his grandfather. Manager Mike Scioscia said Skaggs will be available to start on Monday at home versus Texas.
The skipper said now his team needs to shake off blowing an early 5-0 lead and bounce back on Saturday.
"We got off to a lead...those guys, they hit the ball out of the park," Scioscia said. "It's obviously a good hitters park. They 1/8just 3/8 got the last big hit."
