Baltimore Orioles series preview vs the San Francisco Giants

Following a series loss at home against the Cleveland Guardians, the Baltimore Orioles travel to the west coast for the weekend, playing three games against the San Francisco Giants as they resume their interleague slate in 2023.

Baltimore Orioles vs San Francisco Giants series preview

KNOW YOUR OPPONENT

The Giants enter this weekend at 28-28, sitting in third place in the NL West behind the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers. They are 6-4 in their last 10 games and have a +3 run differential. They are coming off a series loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates after having won their previous four series.

SEASON SERIES

The last time the Orioles and Giants met was in 2019, but with the new balanced schedule they'll be meeting more often now. In that 2019 series, the Giants took two of three from the Orioles, winning by scores of 8-2 and 8-1, while Baltimore won their game by a 9-6 score.

PITCHING PROBABLES

Friday, 6/2: Dean Kremer vs Logan Webb

The series opener pits Kremer and Webb against each other. After a notably rocky start to the season, Kremer has turned things around lately with a string of quality starts. His last start came against the Texas Rangers, allowing three runs over 6 1/3 innings and getting the loss.

Webb is enjoying another successful season for the Giants, entering with a 2.70 ERA and 1.069 WHIP to go with a FIP of 3.28 through 11 starts. He doesn't walk a lot of batters and averages just under 10 strikeouts per nine innings, so he figures to be a good test for this Orioles lineup.

Saturday, 6/3: Kyle Bradish vs Anthony DeSclafani

Bradish and DeSclafani square off in the middle game of the series. Bradish is coming off yet another strong start, allowing one run on four hits and one walk in 6 2/3 innings against the Texas Rangers, the only win of that series for the Orioles.

Through 11 starts this season, DeSclafani has a 3.48 ERA, 3.67 FIP, and 1.054 WHIP over 67 1/3 innings pitched. His average of 1.2 walks per nine is a spectacular number, but he averages 6.5 strikeouts per nine, so he doesn't miss a lot of bats either. This is a starter that the Orioles could get to early with his tendency to fill up the zone.

Sunday, 6/4: Tyler Wells vs TBD

The series finale has only one announced starter, with that being Wells. With a league best 0.825 WHIP, Wells is coming off a start in which he allowed just one run on four hits and no walks, striking out seven hitters in a 5-0 loss to the Guardians.

As for the Giants, both Alex Cobb and Sean Manaea are candidates to start, with both getting decisions against the Pirates in separate games. Cobb has a 3.05 ERA, 3.67 FIP, and 1.403 WHIP in 11 starts this season, including one complete game shutout in 62 innings pitched.

Manaea is not enjoying his first season in San Francisco. He has a bloated 5.89 ERA and 5.36 FIP over six starts and six relief appearances, with a 1.555 WHIP in 36 2/3 innings, though he does average 11.5 strikeouts per nine so far.

Following consecutive series losses, the Orioles need to bounce back on the road against an interleague opponent to get the good times rolling again. Let's play some ball!