Where: Camden Yards, Baltimore MD
GAME 1
When: 7:05
The Starters: Henderson Alvarez vs. Tommy Hunter
The Orioles will take on the Blue Jays in the first game of this three game series, and they will send Tommy Hunter to the mound. Hunter, who was picked up in a trade last season at the trade deadline, was terrible in his last game. He let up eight earned tuns in 5.2 innings, against the White Sox in the Orioles’ 8-1 loss last week. But Hunter did have success this year in his first start, it was against the Twins where he pitched 7 innings and didn’t even allowed a run. The start that he made that will be most relevant to this game is the one he made against this Blue Jays team in his second start. In this start he went 6 innings and gave up 4 earned runs in the Orioles 7-5 win. As for the Blue Jays, they will put Henderson Alvarez on the mound for the first game in this series. His stats for this year are 0-1 with a 4.66 ERA. When he faced the Orioles on April 14th, he pitched for seven innings and gave up three earned runs, when the O’s beat the Blue Jays 6-4. I think that the Orioles will win this game 5-3, and Hunter will pitch a gem.
Game 2
When: 7:05
The Starters: Kyle Drabek vs. Jason Hammel
The orioles will put Hammel on the mound in the middle game of this series. So far this year, Hammel has been the Orioles best pitcher so far this year. He is 2-0 with a 2.37 ERA, in three starts this year, one of which was against this Blue Jays team. In the game he pitched against the Blue Jays, he pitched five innings and gave up two earned runs. Which is solid but nothing special. The Blue Jays are set to have Kyle Drabek on the mound, in this one. He has been great all year also. He is 2-0 with a 2.0 ERA, so far thus year. In his start against the Orioles he went 7.1 innings and gave up only one earned run. This performance resulted in the only win in the series for the Blue Jays. I think that the Orioles will win this one as well, 9-8, and Mark Reynolds will finally break through and hit his first home run.
Game 3
When: 7:05
The Starters: Drew Hutchison vs. Brian Matusz
In the final game of the series the pitchers are set to be Matusz and Hutchison. Matusz has been the worst pitcher for the O’s by far this year and was especially bad in his start against this Blue Jays team. He gave up five earned runs in 5.2 innings against this team in the first time around. He will hope to finally find his groove, after he has been awful to start off the year ( 0-3, with a 7.98 ERA). The Blue Jays’ Drew Hutchison, has had one start this year, and it was not very good. He pitched 5.1 innings and gave up five earned runs, nonetheless he still came out with the victory against the leagues worst, Kansas City Royals. I think that the orioles will bring out the broomsticks and win 7-5.
Pat’s Prediction Record: 7-6