Thursday, May 17, 2018

Cubs vs Reds

The temperature will soar to almost 90 degrees on Tuesday, but things should be much more comfortable come game time. The real threat is the chance of rain: Baltimore should get a healthy dose on Tuesday night, and there’s thunder in the forecast for Wednesday. The foul weather will continue all week, so the Birds may actually be glad to be back on the road when they face the Red Sox on Thursday.After a torrid 5-1 stretch and a much-needed day off, the Baltimore Orioles are set for their first interleague series of the year: a two-game slate against the surprisingly competitive Philadelphia Phillies.Before the season, most observers projected similar records for these two teams, but it was plain to see that they were heading in opposite directions — while the Birds are saddled with a top-heavy roster and a thin farm system, the Phillies have an influx of youth and improved their Pythagorean record by 10 wins last season.

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 Cubs vs Reds

 Cubs vs Reds

Both teams have accelerated down their respective paths in 2018, so while Philadelphia is sitting pretty with a 23-16 record, the O’s are toiling away at 13-28.After starting their homestand off by dropping two of three to the Oakland Athletics, the Boston Red Sox will welcome the Baltimore Orioles to Fenway Park for a four-game series starting Thursday. Thursday’s game is a makeup for an April 16 rainout.Boston won its series finale against the Athletics on Wednesday thanks to home runs from Xander Bogaerts and J.D. Martinez, and the Sox will send left-hander David Price to the hill Thursday to battle the American League East rival Orioles.Price was solid in his last start, allowing two runs on five hits while striking out six in 5 1/3 innings against the Toronto Blue Jays. The Sox lefty picked up his first win since April 17 in the process.Baltimore will counter with hard-throwing right-hander Kevin Gausman. Gausman has been mediocre in his career against the Red Sox, going 4-6 with a 3.83 ERA in 18 career appearances against the Sox.

a> The Red Sox’s lineup will have a bit of a different look, as Jackie Bradley Jr. will return to the lineup, hitting ninth and playing center field. Brock Holt gets the start at second base and will hit seventh. With Bradley back in center, Martinez will assume the designated hitting duties and Hanley Ramirez will man first base.With a 5-3 record over their recent home stand, the Baltimore Orioles did well to pick up some momentum at Camden Yards. Their next opponent is one of the best, most complete teams in the majors: the Boston Red Sox.The Red Sox rocketed out of the gate this season, posting a 17-2 record through April 20. They’ve basically been a .500 team since then, going 12-12, but that’s still much better than the Orioles, who remain near the bottom of the American League.

Yes, the Birds have experienced some incredible highs over the past week — did you already forget about Sunday’s 17-run performance?  but they were back to their old tricks against the Phillies on Wednesday, losing 4-1. They managed just four hits, including an Adam Jones home run that provided their only offense of the game.Even with their recent uptick, an Orioles rebuild doesn’t appear to be any less inevitable than it was three weeks ago. Manny Machado and Adam Jones are playing on expiring contracts, while Chris Davis ranks ahead of just three AL hitters in adjusted OPS: Jackie Bradley, Jason Kipnis and Kole Calhoun. Consider the trade stock of the Birds’ halfway decent players to be an ongoing storyline for the rest of the season.Until the sell-off begins, all we can do is appreciate their better moments. The Orioles and Red Sox will get underway on Thursday at 7:10 p.m. ET. Here are five players who could tilt the balance of the series.The Baltimore Orioles are 16 games adrift in the AL East, and after this weekend, they could have even more ground to make up. The Red Sox are one of the top teams in the majors, which should make for a stiff test for the 13-29 Birds.But while the odds are stacked against the O’s, there’s surely some compelling baseball in store and what’s more, two of the games will air on MLB Network. Look here for our 5 Players to Watch feature, and look below for more info on the series.The Boston Red Sox will be looking to extend their recent dominance over the Baltimore Orioles when they open a four-game weekend series on Thursday as -160 home favorites on the MLB odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. Boston has tallied six straight wins over the Orioles but has struggled overall in recent outings, falling in five of its last nine contests ahead of Thursday night’s Orioles vs. Red Sox betting matchup at Fenway Park.

The Red Sox avoided getting swept for the first time this season with Wednesday’s 6-4 win over the visiting Oakland A’s as heavy -247 chalk but surrendered 15 total runs during their three-game set with the A’s. That continues a trend that has seen Boston allow 5.88 runs per game over its past eight dates on home turf. Boston has slammed the door on Orioles hitters in recent matchups with Baltimore, surrendering just seven total runs in five overall meetings. The Red Sox have also limited the Orioles to two or fewer runs in four of their past seven tilts while scoring seven or more runs in four of their past six. Baltimore dropped a 4-1 decision as a +100 bet in a Wednesday afternoon date with the Philadelphia Phillies and travels to Fenway as a +150 underdog in Thursday’s series opener. However, Orioles batters have otherwise looked good at the plate of late, averaging 8.29 runs per game in their previous seven outings. The Orioles’ recent offensive explosion has powered them to wins in five of seven outings. That marks a dramatic turnaround for the club, which had failed to string together consecutive wins while enduring a season-opening 8-27 slump. Baltimore has also held its own in recent visits to Boston, going 12-9 in its past 21 games, according to the OddsShark MLB Database.

Orioles vs Red Sox

To describe the Baltimore Orioles as a team that had won five of its past seven games coming into Fenway Park Thursday night would’ve been accurate but also grossly misleading.
A closer look at the 2018 Orioles shows a team that hadn’t won a road game since April 8. In fact, they were 3-17 away from Camden Yards. Beyond that, their pitching staff had the third-worst ERA in the American League. The starting rotation had combined for an 8-22 record and 5.44 ERA.
Their most reliable arm had been righthander Kevin Gausman, but by the fifth inning of the Red Sox’ 6-2 win, even that became a question mark.
The Sox already had manufactured a run in the inning out of a leadoff walk by Jackie Bradley Jr., who stole second, moved to third on a single by Mookie Betts, then trotted home on a sacrifice fly by Andrew Benintendi for a 3-0 lead.
But the gut punch came with two on, two out, and Xander Bogaerts at the plate.
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  Orioles vs Red Sox

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Gausman fell behind, 3 and 1, then left a fastball up and over the middle of the plate. Bogaerts whipped it over the Green Monster for a three-run homer.
Gausman barely had enough time to whip his neck back around after watching the homer sail out before he realized his night was over.Bogaerts was midway through his home run trot when Orioles manager Buck Showalter was out at the mound taking the ball from Gausman.“I don’t know if you can do that or you can’t,” Bogaerts said. “I wasn’t worried either. I kind of saw him as I was rounding third.”“I’m focused on touching the bases and getting my home run,” he said. “When I saw him, I didn’t think anything of it. But afterwards, the guys were like they had never seen stuff like that happen on a daily basis, so it was weird.”

It was Bogaerts’s sixth homer of the season. The Sox have homered in nine straight games, their longest such streak since 2016. Their 61 home runs through 44 games is tied for the most in franchise history.
Xander Bogaerts tosses his bat aside after crushing his three-run homer that gave the Red Sox a 6-0 lead.Xander Bogaerts tosses his bat aside after crushing his three-run homer that gave the Red Sox a 6-0 lead.Betts’s 3-for-4 day gave him multiple hits in five of his past six games. His two runs scored pushed him to a major league-leading 46. Bogaerts went 2 for 4 with the three-run homer. Hanley Ramirez went 2 for 4 with a run scored. Sandy Leon went 2 for 4.The Sox got an early jump on Gausman, who had given up first-inning runs in three of his first eight starts this season.Betts led off the first with a line-drive single to left, then three batters later J.D. Martinez got back to the business of mashing the life out of the ball.On a 1-and-1 count, Gausman left a splitter hanging over the middle of the plate and Martinez blasted it to straightaway center field for a two-run homer.

That made it four homers in five games for Martinez, eight in the past 15, and 13 total for the season. He left the game in the seventh-inning due to a stomach illness.“It’s impressive what he does,” Bogaerts said. “I’m not kidding you. I’ve got to be ready to hit right away. That’s the first time I saw him work an at-bat in that first inning. Normally he’s first-pitch-swing hit or home run oppo, whatever. But he worked an at-bat.”The Sox have won four straight against the Orioles this season and seven straight going back to last year.Not too long ago, the Orioles felt like a permanent thorn in the Sox’ side. But going back to last season, the Sox have outscored the O’s, 46-15. This season, they’ve pounded Baltimore, 26-7.Paired with nine innings of two-run ball from David Price, the Sox sent the Orioles to their 13th straight road loss, which matched the franchise record set when they started the 1988 season 0-21.Price was within one strike of throwing his first shutout since 2015 when Manny Machado belted a two-run homer off the National Car Rental sign atop the Monster. Still, Price held the O’s to two runs on five hits over nine innings, using just 95 pitches (69 strikes) and racking up eight strikeouts.“They’re a free-swinging team,” Price said. “You can go out there and do that [quick innings] or you can go out there and go three innings and give up a whole bunch of runs against a team like that. If you’re locating pitches, it’s a team that you can navigate through. And with the defensive plays that I had today, it makes everything a lot easier.”

The Sox improved to 15-4 this season when hitting multiple homers, but their effectiveness in all phases was the biggest takeaway for manager Alex Cora.“It was a fun game to watch,” Cora said. “It was good to see defensively what they did. Very clean [game]. What David did on the mound was amazing and the at-bats, it was probably one of the best games we have played the whole season.”
Mookie Betts heads out to right field as the sunset adds to the aura of Fenway Park.Mookie Betts heads out to right field as the sunset adds to the aura of Fenway Park.Julian Benbow can be reached at jbenbow@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter@julianbenbow.

Cubs vs Reds

The temperature will soar to almost 90 degrees on Tuesday, but things should be much more comfortable come game time. The real threat is t...