The Baltimore Orioles are looking to pin down both the American League East crown and the top seed in the American League Playoffs and a road win against the Cleveland Guardians would greatly help the cause.
Baltimore Orioles vs. Cleveland Guardians (-110, 8)
Triston McKenzie is lined up to start for the Guardians, making just his third start of the season and his third pitching appearance since June 10
In two minor league appearances to ramp up for this start, McKenzie allowed four runs and two home runs in 6 2/3 innings, failing to fill a complete four innings in either start, which figures to put a lot of strain on the bullpen.
Though the Guardians overall this season are 10th in bullpen ERA, since August 20 that bullpen has a 4.58 ERA, which ranks 17th in the league while the Orioles are eighth in the league with a 3.81 bullpen ERA in that span.
For the Orioles, Kyle Gibson gets the start, who has some deceiving numbers as his ERA is 5.00, but his 4.23 fielding independent points to positive regression.
Gibson enters Sunday having allowed three runs or fewer in four of his last five starts with overall 1.2 home runs and 2.7 walks per nine innings allowed this season.
To the benefit of Gibson and the Orioles bullpen is the Guardians ranking last in the league in home runs and their 3.8 runs per game at home rank 29th in the league.
On the other side, the Orioles lineup has had its best results on the road this season, ranking fourth in the league in runs per game on the road with more than 5.5 runs per game and since August 18, lead the league with 6.1 runs per game the past 34 games.
With McKenzie’s ability to go deep into a game greatly compromised and the Orioles entering Sunday the hottest offense in baseball, the Orioles will take another step towards clinching the American League East.
The Play: Orioles -110
