O's game blog: Kyle Bradish faces Red Sox in series opener

As the Orioles' road trip continues at Boston tonight, they face a Red Sox team playing much better than the last time these two teams faced. On April 29 at Baltimore, the clubs began a three-game series and the Red Sox had lost seven of nine at the start of the series. The Orioles won the last two games that weekend to take two of three.

But now, Boston is red-hot and scoring a lot of runs. The Red Sox (21-23) beat the White Sox 16-7 last night, scoring 16 runs for the second time in three games. Boston has won seven of its last eight games and is 10-3 in its past 13 games. The Red Sox have scored 100 runs (7.7 per game) in those 13 games. They have scored 112 runs (7.5 per game) their past 15 games, going 11-4.

Boston has won four series in a row, going 2-1 at Texas, 2-1 versus Houston, 4-0 versus Seattle and 2-1 against Chicago. The Red Sox are 10-10 at home but are 6-1 in the last seven games at Fenway Park.

Boston’s Trevor Story had two hits, including a three-run homer on Thursday night, as he continues his recent torrid hitting. Hitting that has seen him produce seven homers and 21 RBIs his past seven games and eight homers in his last 10. He has driven in 32 runs this month.

O’s right-hander Kyle Bradish (1-3, 5.74 ERA) will try to slow down this hot club tonight. He made his major league debut in that April 29 game against Boston and pitched well. Over six innings, he gave up five hits and three runs (two earned) with one walk and two strikeouts on 81 pitches. In his third start, Bradish would allow two runs over seven innings with 11 strikeouts at St. Louis.

But now he has struggled his past two games since that May 10 outing versus the Cardinals. In games against the Yankees and Rays, he has allowed 13 hits and nine runs over 9 2/3 innings for an ERA of 8.38 with five walks and 11 strikeouts.

The 25-year-old Bradish has shown reverse splits, faring very well against lefty batters and worse against right-handers. Lefties bat .191 with an OPS of .453 against him. But right-handed batters are hitting .357 with an OPS of 1.127. The Orioles are 2-3 in his five starts.

In the first plate appearance of a game, opponents have an OPS of .701 against Bradish, but that goes up to 1.132 in the second plate appearance. When they put the first pitch in play against him, opponents are 6-for-11 with a homer. And he has yielded five hits in nine at-bats when pitching with runners in scoring position.

The Orioles won the first series of the season against the Red Sox, taking two out of three games from April 29 to May 1 at Oriole Park. Last season, Baltimore went 6-13 against Boston, including 3-6 at Fenway Park. The O’s have dropped six straight games at Fenway after sweeping the Red Sox in three games there to open the 2021 campaign.

The Orioles' Trey Mancini has batted .293/.348/.546 (87-for-297) with 23 doubles, two triples, 16 home runs, 46 runs scored, 54 RBIs and 26 walks in 75 career games against the Red Sox. And his 16 home runs are his most against any team. Mancini owns a line of .316/.377/.544 (43-for-136) in 35 career games at Fenway Park.

Adley Rutschman is averaging 4.86 pitches per plate appearance through his first five career games. Among qualified players, Pittsburgh’s Yoshi Tsutsugo currently leads the majors with 4.61 pitches per plate appearance, while Anthony Santander ranks eighth with 4.31. Rutschman recorded his first career multi-hit game on Wednesday at Yankee Stadium, finishing 2-for-4 with a pair of singles, one from each side of the plate.

Right-hander Garrett Whitlock (1-1, 3.58 ERA) will make his 11th appearance and seventh start for Boston. The Red Sox are 3-3 in his starts. He posted an ERA of 1.25 through his first seven games, but over his past three starts his ERA is 8.18 and opponents have an OPS of .972 against him.