Orioles vie for elusive win streak in clash vs. Guardians

The Baltimore Orioles are in this position again, trying to win consecutive games for the first time this season when they play Thursday evening against the visiting Cleveland Guardians.

“If it doesn’t happen early in the season, it eventually will happen,” Orioles outfielder Ramon Laureano said of putting together strong stretches. “There are streaks. That’s part of baseball.”

The Orioles need to sustain something to alleviate the stress that has built across the first few weeks of the season.

“Young really, really good players, they expect so much of themselves,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “They feel a lot of internal and external pressure. We try to get them to relax as much as possible. We have a lot of guys who put a ton of pressure on themselves, and they feel it.”

Maybe some of that was loosened when the Orioles evened the three-game series at one victory apiece with Wednesday night’s 9-1 romp despite being outhit 8-7.

Foremost might have been Jackson Holliday, whose second-inning grand slam was the big early blow. It was a boost for Holliday, a second-year infielder who had been in an 0-for-17 funk.

“I’ve been putting good swings on the ball,” Holliday said. “Sometimes the results just don’t follow, so sticking to the process.”

Teammate Heston Kjerstad said Holliday’s homer was a jolt in the right direction.

“Just to start the game off that way with kind of how the offense had been going, we kind of needed that,” Kjerstad said.

The Guardians stranded eight runners Wednesday. They botched an eighth-inning chance to reduce a 5-1 deficit after loading the bases with one out and failing to score.

Hyde said the Orioles need to be prepared for a response from the Guardians.

“That’s a scrappy team that puts the ball in play,” he said.

Cleveland outfielder Angel Martinez left the game after bumping into the wall in center field after making an eighth-inning catch, but manager Stephen Vogt said he could have stayed in the game and he should be fine.

That might be crucial for the Guardians because Martinez has been a spark in the short time he has been in the lineup.

“Every time we’ve gotten Angel (on the roster), he has done that for us,” Vogt said. “Just hope we can keep him there.”

Orioles outfielder Tyler O’Neill was scratched from Wednesday’s lineup with neck discomfort.

“It was bothering him a little bit (Tuesday),” Hyde said. “He’s day-to-day.”

Right-hander Tanner Bibee (1-1, 4.40 ERA) gets the call as Cleveland’s starter on Thursday. He didn’t allow a run across 4 2/3 innings Saturday in his team’s 6-3 victory over Kansas City, but with four walks and four strikeouts, his pitch count reached 96.

Bibee was the winning pitcher last June at Baltimore, limiting the Orioles to two runs (one earned) in six innings with a walk and seven strikeouts. That’s the only time he has faced the Orioles in his three seasons in the major leagues.

Right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano (1-1, 3.86 ERA) will make his fourth big-league appearance as Baltimore’s starter. He has surrendered a home run in each of the last two games.

In Saturday’s no-decision against Toronto — a game his team won 5-4 — Sugano didn’t record a strikeout across 4 2/3 innings.

–Field Level Media