Gary Sánchez has returned to the Orioles. He was reinstated from the 10-day injured list this afternoon, with catcher Maverick Handley optioned to Triple-A Norfolk as the anticipated counter move.
Sánchez went on an injury rehab assignment after getting rid of the inflammation his right rest. He was rested yesterday.
Handley is 3-for-40, but he’s helped to lower the staff ERA to 4.93. He caught the combined shutout last night, which began with Charlie Morton’s 10 strikeouts in five innings.
Morton has a 2.97 ERA in eight games with Handley behind the plate. He provider an example last night of his connection to the kid.
“The other day he came in, ‘What time’s your ‘pen?’” Morton recalled. “I told him. He was like, ‘Would you mind if I came out and played catch with you?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, dude. Absolutely. I love that.’ I think it just shows his desire and willingness to develop and develop a rapport and just kind of throwing himself in the mix. Because you don’t really have many guys who are catching who are like, ‘Hey man, I’ll come catch a ‘pen.’ But I think he has a desire to get better. He has a desire to just work on his game, and whether that’s a physical thing, a mental, emotional thing, I think that’s why he and I are working well together.
“I think he just wants to do right by himself, by whoever he’s catching. I think he wants to learn, but he also wants to prove himself. He’s proud of where he’s at, and he should be. I’m honored to have been there for his debut on the field, and I get excited. I love all the guys that I work with, but it’s like, a guy like that, coming up, trying to establish himself in the big leagues, I want nothing but the best and to do my part to do that for him.”
Tomoyuki Sugano makes his 14th start. He has a 3.23 ERA and 1.102 WHIP in 75 1/3 innings. He’s 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA and a .188 opponents’ average in his three starts following a loss. The Orioles have won all three games.
Sugano held the Angels to one run and three hits in 7 1/3 innings in Anaheim.
The Orioles have 20 wins over the Angels since 2020, their most against a non-divisional opponent. They average 5.80 runs per game, the most against any opponent, per STATS.
The Orioles are 4-15 against left-handed starters and they get Tyler Anderson this afternoon. They have a .744 OPS versus right-handers and a .557 OPS versus lefties.
Anderson is a two-time All-Star who’s posted a 3.99 ERA and 1.314 WHIP in 13 starts. He faced the Orioles on May 11 and allowed one earned run (three total) in five innings. He’s given up eight runs and 15 hits in two starts this month over nine innings.
Gunnar Henderson is 4-for-7 with two doubles and a home run against Anderson.
Left-handers are hitting .280/.353/.587 against Anderson this season, and right-handers are hitting .221/.293/.367.