Orioles bring improving offense into finale vs. Tigers

Third baseman/designated hitter Jordan Westburg is ready to see what the Baltimore Orioles can do with the bats if they can build on their latest performance.

That will be a chore for several reasons on Thursday when the Orioles try to win a series against the team with the best record in the American League, the visiting Detroit Tigers, while facing the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, Tarik Skubal.

“What the offense is capable of doing and what we have now is a plenty good enough to go out and win series and win ballgames and with guys coming back even off the IL,” Westburg said. “It’s going to just keep getting better. So it’s exciting to kind of dream on what could happen.”

The Orioles evened the three-game series with a 10-1 victory on Wednesday, boosted by a seven-run eighth inning in what until then was a tight matchup.

The outcome produced an endorsement from across the Baltimore roster.

“We were able to put up 10 runs against a really good team,” infielder Ramon Urias said. “We are playing better at the right time and we’re getting our boys back and we feel better.”

Westburg has homered in each of the first two games of the series after coming off the injury list. He had missed six weeks because of a strained left hamstring.

Detroit hasn’t lost back-to-back games since a three-game skid May 22-24. Since those stumbles, the Tigers are 11-5, and they failed to score more than two runs in each of those setbacks.

“We do have a pretty resilient group,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “We (can) put some good innings together, maybe when you least expect it.”

The Tigers had Colt Keith as the starting third baseman for the first time in his big-league career on Wednesday. His primary defensive position had been second base.

“Getting him more comfortable in the speed of the game and the different nuances with playing third on occasion, we’re going to test it out,” Hinch said.

The Tigers’ Thursday starting pitcher needs no testing period. Skubal (6-2, 2.16 ERA) has struck out 105 batters in 83 1/3 innings while issuing only seven walks. He is coming off a 7 2/3-inning stint on Friday, when he gave up one run during a 3-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

Skubal has gone 23 2/3 innings across his past three starts while striking out 26 without issuing a walk.

In his career against Baltimore, he is 3-1 with a 1.52 ERA covering 23 2/3 innings. Skubal threw six shutout innings against the Orioles on April 27, striking out 11 and walking none in a 7-0 win.

The Orioles have struggled against left-handers this year, producing the majors’ worst slugging percentage (.283) and OPS (.562). After a game last weekend, Orioles interim manager Tony Mansolino expressed his concerns about the team when it faces a southpaw.

“The story’s just left-handed pitching again,” he said. “Left-handed pitching got us. We’ve got to figure it out.”

Mansolino will give the ball on Thursday to Dean Kremer (5-6, 4.98 ERA), who lost for the first time in four starts in his last outing when he surrendered five runs in 5 1/3 innings against the Athletics on Friday. The good thing for the right-hander is that he has gone four consecutive outings without allowing a home run.

In two career starts against Detroit, Kremer is 0-2 with an 8.44 ERA. He lost to Skubal and the Tigers on April 27 when he surrendered five runs on four hits and four walks in 5 2/3 innings.

–Field Level Media