Baltimore Orioles: Hoping to Start a New Win Streak vs Scherzer

The Baltimore Orioles ended their six-game winning streak on Friday night against the Nationals, but got the win on Saturday. Could a new streak be on the horizon?

But that blow-out loss against the Nationals bullpen didn’t seem to bother the Baltimore Orioles, who got a much-needed win at home.

The final score of the Orioles Saturday night game against the Nats was 7-3. And, they did it against another highly-touted pitcher: Patrick Corbin, scoring five of the seven runs and giving Corbin his first “L” of the season.

Can the O’s Get a Second Win at Home?

The big question remains with a 1:05 ET game starting soon. Will the Orioles get a win against the always-tough Max Scherzer? He’s had four outings in 2020, and in his most recent one against the Mets he went 6.1 innings giving up six hits and one run. He struck out 7. The outing before that on August 5, he lasted an inning before exiting the game with a sore hamstring. He has also had some back issues in 2020.

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The Orioles don’t have much experience against Scherzer, but the few who have faced him haven’t fared well. But, this is 2020, and the Orioles have been lighting up all types of pitchers.

If the O’s can get a win against Scherzer, then they just might prove they should be taken seriously.

The Orioles need to get to Scherzer early, but they also need John Means to be at his best. Only one Nats player, Asdrubal Cabrera, has faced Means and has batted .500 against him. Means has not had his best stuff in 2020. The Nationals will no-doubt come out swinging hard against Means who has only pitched in seven innings so far, and has a 7.71 ERA.

Where the O’s Stand

With the Saturday night win, the Orioles have a 12-8 record. This puts them two games back from the Yankees in the AL East. Most importantly, that .600 win-loss record is the fourth best in the AL as a whole. If the 2020 playoffs happened today, the Orioles would make it.

The Rays and Indians are close on their heels with a 12-9 record or .571. It sounds strange to say this with only 20 games in, but for the O’s, every win makes a difference.

Highlights from Saturday

The number one highlight from Saturday’s game against the Nationals was that every starting batter got a hit. Jose Iglesias went 3-5 while Hanser Alberto and Andrew Velazquez went 2-4. The Orioles had a total of 13 hits, adding a 10th game with 10 hits or more to the 2020 stats.

Rio Ruiz added his sixth home run to his season. He was the only Bird to go yard. Andrew Velazquez hit his first triple of 2020, and Iglesias, Alberto, and Pedro Severino all added doubles to the team stats. Enjoy Ruiz’s home run courtesy of MLB.com:

As of Friday, the Orioles have 46 doubles, put them in a tie for first with the Atlanta Braves.