Meet The Opponent: Orioles' Hitters Have Gone Cold in Past Week

BALTIMORE, Md. — Tampa Bay's dominating pitching staff has rolled into Baltimore for a three-game series starting Friday night, and that's got to be a scary thought for the Orioles hitters, who suddenly can't do anything right.

Since last seeing the Rays eight days ago in Tampa — where the two teams split a four-game series — the Orioles have been no-hit through six innings three times, including each of the last two games in home losses to Texas. It's the first time since 1974 that a team has been no-hit through six in a five-game period.

It's been a real struggle for a team that was playing better baseball, but then went 2-4 the past week to fall back to 34-46 on the season. The Rays are just a half-game behind the New York Yankees in the American League race, but the Orioles are in last place, 12 games back.

They're in the danger zone ... and feeling it.

"I think there’s a little bit of fatigue right now. This has been a grind. I think you can attribute a little bit of that to that,” Orioles interim manager Tony Mansolino said. “I think guys are trying to win. I think there’s a little bit of, not anxiety, but maybe a tick of pressing at times.”

The Orioles have made the playoffs two years in a row, but that looks like a longshot now. They started the season 16-34 through the first 50 games and manager Brandon Hyde was fired. Things got better quickly under Mansolino — they had a 17-8 record from May 24 to June 20, but have lost four of five since with the bats going silent.

Here are the pitching matchups for the series:

Friday night, 7:05 p.m. ET: Tampa Bay's Ryan Pepiot (5-6, 3.04 ERA) vs. Baltimore's Tomoyuki Sugano (5-4, 3.55 ERA). TV: Apple-TV only
Saturday, 4:05 p.m. ET: Tampa Bay's Zack Littell (6-7, 3.78 ERA) vs. Baltimore's Zach Eflin (6-4, 5.46 ERA).
Sunday, 1:35 p.m. ET: Tampa Bay's Taj Bradley (5-5, 4.57 ERA) vs. Baltimore's Dean Kremer (6-7, 4.60 ERA)

Here are three things to know about the Orioles as we head into this important weekend series.

1. No Adley Rutschman for Orioles

Baltimore catcher Adley Rutschman has a critical piece of the puzzle for the young Orioles, but the Rays won't see him at all this series. He's been out since the last game of the Rays-Orioles series in Tampa on June 19 with an oblique strain. He felt a twinge the next night in New York before the game and was scratched as a precaution.

The Orioles put him on the 10-day injured list, but Mansolino said he will be out through the All-Star break, which is July 14-17. They aren't going to rush him, so the Orioles probably won't use him until they open the second half on July 18 in Tampa.

"He's dealt with it fine," Mansolino said. "He wants to play, and he's kind of going stir crazy. I think the fact that it is mild in nature probably makes it a little harder for him. We all know abdominal and oblique injuries, if you push those things, they can get really ugly, and instead of being three or four weeks, it could be three months.

"In his mind, he probably thinks he can possibly go out there, but obviously, we know medically that's not the smart thing to do for him right now."

Veteran Gary Sanchez is catching Friday night for the Orioles.

2. Crazy quiet bats in Baltimore

Since leaving Tampa, the Orioles are hitting just .184, which ranks 29th in all of baseball. The only team that's worse is the Kansas City Royals (.182), who hit just .132 in the three-game sweep by the Rays Tuesday through Thursday in Kansas City. Baltimore’s .570 OPS the past week is last in the majors.

“It’s baseball, I’m not concerned about it,” Baltimore outfielder Colton Cowser said. “I think that every day, we’re just trying to go out there and execute a plan and approach, and sometimes, if a pitcher is able to get us outside of that approach, we’re not going to have as much success.

"I think you’ve seen that a little bit lately. But we’re going to stay and remain confident in this clubhouse.”

3. Seeing familiar faces again

The Rays will see former teammate Zach Eflin on Saturday, and then Dean Kremer on Sunday. They saw both Baltimore starters in Tampa last week, with differing results. They roughed up Eflin, winning the series opener 7-1, but lost 5-1 to Kremer the next day, getting just four hits off of him.

The division rivals play only 13 games a year now instead of 19, so they see less of each other during the course of the season. But that last series was so recent, that it seems pretty fresh. Rays manager Kevin Cash thinks the hitters have an edge in these situations, but he also know we're talking about veteran pitchers here, too, and they know how to adapt from one start to the next.

"I've said in the past when you're facing their starter — or they're facing our starter — it seems like it's more of a benefit to the lineup,'' Cash said. "I don't know if the stats support that or not. We're going to face Eflin (Saturday) and we had some good at-bats against him.

"Knowing Zach — (who played parts of two seasons for Cash in Tampa Bay) — he's going to make some adjustments and make it pretty challenging for us. It's just part of the schedule, and you see it a lot when you're facing teams in your division.''