This story was originally published by Dead Spin
The San Diego Padres will try to close an already impressive road trip on a high note when they go for a three-game series sweep of the host Baltimore Orioles on Sunday afternoon.
San Diego has had a strong start to the second half of the season, going 5-1 away from home against the Cleveland Guardians and Washington Nationals ahead of the series with Baltimore. The Padres then downed the Orioles 6-4 on Friday before picking up a 9-4 victory on Saturday.
After losing to Cleveland in its first game following the All-Star break, San Diego has rattled off seven straight wins.
“It has been on display,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said of his club’s talent. “It starts off that mound.”
Prior to the break, San Diego’s longest winning streak this season was five games.
Meanwhile, the Orioles have been scuffling, dropping five of their past six games. They are in danger of getting swept in a home series for the second time this month after the Chicago Cubs took three games from them from July 9-11.
“There’s some frustration that we haven’t seen here in a couple years, honestly,” Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde said. “It’s some adversity and we’ve just got to battle and wake up (Sunday) and stay positive and know the capabilities of our team and how well we played the first three months and keep going.”
Still, the Orioles sit atop the American League East, and they also have the second-best record in the entire AL.
“Obviously it’s not going our way right now,” Baltimore All-Star shortstop Gunnar Henderson said. “But, I mean, we feel like we’ve got the right mindset. It’s just getting over that hump, and once we do that, I feel like we’ll be in a good spot.”
Right-hander Randy Vasquez (3-5, 4.17 ERA) will attempt to keep the Orioles in a funk on Sunday when he makes his 15th start of the season.
Vasquez is in search of back-to-back victories after beating Washington on Tuesday. He lasted six-plus innings in that outing, keeping the Nationals off the board while allowing five hits.
In his one previous start against Baltimore, Vasquez settled for a no-decision on July 5, 2023. He surrendered three hits and shut the Orioles out for five innings.
Another right-hander, Albert Suarez (5-4, 3.48), will get the nod for Baltimore.
Suarez most recently got lit up against the Miami Marlins, taking a loss on Tuesday after getting tagged for six runs and eight hits in two-plus innings.
Sunday marks Suarez’s sixth career appearance and third career start against the Padres. He is 0-1 with a 2.87 ERA vs. San Diego.
Xander Bogaerts could cause havoc for Suarez as he attempts to extend his hitting streak to eight games. Bogaerts is hitting .512 (21-for-41) this month.
“The biggest thing for him is he has been putting barrels on baseballs,” Shildt said of Bogaerts.
Baltimore’s pitching staff has struggled during the team’s rut, with the Orioles giving up at least six runs in each of their past five games. The defense has been sloppy, too. Baltimore committed two errors on Saturday, one on Friday and one on Thursday against Miami.
“We haven’t played well defensively for a few weeks,” Hyde said. “It’s going to be really important for us going forward.”
–Field Level Media
