Series Preview: Orioles (4-2) at Pirates (6-1)

4-4-24 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on X

The Pirates are 6-1, there’s no taking that away from them, but there’s no escaping the Marlins and Nationals aren’t in a good place currently too. Baltimore is a much better test for this young team and while it’s too early for all that measuring stick stuff, there’s no denying the O’s will be a much tougher test.

4/5 – Home Opener
Pirates – Jared Jones (R) – 1-0, 5.2 IP, 4.76 ERA, 10 Ks/2 walks, 0.88 WHIP
Orioles – Grayson Rodriguez (R) – 1-0, 6 IP, 1.50 ERA, 9 Ks/1 walks, 0.83 WHIP

4/6
Pirates – Bailey Falter (L) – 0-0, 4 IP, 13.50 ERA, 2 Ks/3 walks, 2.00 WHIP
Orioles – Tyler Wells (R) – 0-1, 6 IP, 4.50 ERA, 7 Ks/0 walks, 0.83 WHIP

4/7
Pirates – Marco Gonzales (L) – 0-0, 5 IP, 1.80 ERA, 2 Ks/2 walks, 1.20 WHIP
Orioles – Dean Kremer (R) – 0-0, 5.1 IP, 5.06 ERA, 5 Ks/1 walks, 0.75 WHIP

Orioles:
Ryan Mountcastle – 20 at bats .300 AVG, a .385 OBP and .550 SLG. Mountcastle may not be the name that gets headlines but he sure as hell can handle the wood when he gets going. It’s easy to forget amongst all the young talent in Baltimore, but veterans like Mountcastle and Santander deliver for this club too.

Pirates:
Connor Joe – All Connor has done is hit. In 26 ABs he’s got 9 hits, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 5 BB, a .346 AVG, .469 OBP, bottom line, Connor has done it all. He didn’t play in their one loss. He started hot last year too, but no matter how you think his overall season will go, there’s no denying, he’s tattooing baseballs.

Orioles:
Austin Hayes –Austin is off to a painfully slow start and there is pressure to perform with Jackson Holliday on the short list for being called up. in 18 ABs he’s only managed .111 AVG and he’s barely getting on base either with a .238 OBP.

Pirates:
Henry Davis – He’s done fine behind the plate, and he’s made decent contact on some balls right at people, but in his 24 At Bats he’s only hitting .167 with a .300 OBP. It’s been buried because the Pirates in general are hitting but not a super fast start for Hank.

Key Injuries

Orioles:
John Means, the big lefty was shut down with forearm soreness but he just threw a rehab outing on the 31st so signs point to him returning perhaps toward the end of April.

Pirates:
Jason Delay was added to the injury list and prompted the Pirates to bring in Joey Bart as the backup catcher.

Who To Watch

Familiar foes. These clubs played each other a ton in the Spring, and while teams aren’t game planning and whatnot in Spring Training, make no mistake they’re taking notes. Expect these teams to play like they’ve seen each other’s act a bit more than most interleague series.