Orioles Preview: Boston At Baltimore
When: 7:05 PM ET, Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Where: Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore, Maryland
The Baltimore Orioles have found their stride just in time to make a desperate late push at the American League's final wild-card spot, but they have yet to run into a pitcher as hot as Joe Kelly during their recent run. Kelly aims to become the first Boston hurler since Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez in 1999 to win nine straight starts on Tuesday as the Red Sox attempt to even their three-game road set with the Orioles.
Baltimore (70-73) dropped 15 of 18 from Aug. 20-Sept.7 to fall seven games under .500, but finds itself on the verge of winning a third straight series after taking two of three in New York against the Yankees and two of three at home versus Kansas City. The Orioles won for the fifth time in six tries in Monday's series opener, holding Boston to three singles in a 2-0 triumph while remaining six games behind Texas for the AL's second wild-card. In order to continue its winning ways, however, Baltimore must do something no team has been able to do since the beginning of August -- find a way to defeat Boston when Kelly takes the mound. Since going 2-6 with a 5.94 ERA over his first 16 outings, Kelly has won each of his last eight starts – allowing no more than two runs in any of his previous seven turns.
TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, NESN (Boston), MASN (Baltimore)
RADIO: 7:05 p.m. ET, The Orioles Radio Network (105.7 The Fan - Baltimore)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Red Sox RH Joe Kelly (10-6, 4.70 ERA) vs. Orioles RH Ubaldo Jimenez (11-9, 4.22)
Kelly lowered his ERA over the last seven outings to 1.85 after allowing one run in 5 2/3 innings en route to a 10-4 victory over Toronto on Wednesday. "Learning how important secondary pitches (are), it's a process. It's a process for somebody that has (Kelly's) type of fastball strength to realize you've got to work on some secondary stuff and it has just clicked," interim manager Torey Lovullo told the Boston Globe in regards to the reason for the 27-year-old's recent success. Kelly went 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA in two first-half starts against Baltimore.
Jimenez enjoyed his finest performance in just over a month in Wednesday's 5-3 win over the New York Yankees, yielding three runs while fanning eight over seven innings. The strong effort ended a five-outing stretch in which the 2010 All-Star had failed to work into the sixth inning and was his best turn since tossing eight scoreless frames against the Los Angeles Angels on Aug. 8. Pablo Sandoval is 13-for-36 with two homers in his career off Jimenez, who is 2-3 with an 8.06 ERA in nine starts versus the Red Sox.
WALK-OFFS
1. Since the start of 2014, 10 of the 16 meetings between these AL East rivals at Camden Yards have been decided by two runs or fewer.
2. Red Sox CF Mookie Betts went 0-for-3 on Monday to snap an 18-game hitting streak, but Orioles 1B Chris Davis singled and has reached base in 18 straight.
3. Baltimore went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position in the opener after going 11-for-34 in similar situations during its previous series against the Royals.
PREDICTION: Red Sox 5, Orioles 2
By SportsDirect Inc.