BALTIMORE — The woes continue for the Orioles (15-41) as they’ll try to snap a season-high 10-game losing streak and salvage a game in the series against the Red Sox (33-24) this afternoon at Camden Yards.
The Baltimore lineup has produced just 10 runs in its last eight games and 16 runs in the current 10-game skid. In comparison, the Red Sox scored 11 runs in Friday night’s game alone.
Trying to inject any kind of offense he can possibly find, interim manager Juan Samuel will rest the struggling Corey Patterson, replacing him with Julio Lugo in the leadoff spot and Luke Scott taking his spot in left field this afternoon.
Here are this afternoon’s lineups:
Boston
SS Marco Scutaro
2B Dustin Pedroia
DH David Ortiz
1B Kevin Youkilis
C Victor Martinez
3B Adrian Beltre
LF Bill Hall
CF Mike Cameron
RF Darnell McDonald
SP John Lackey (6-3, 4.95 ERA)
Baltimore
2B Julio Lugo
DH Miguel Tejada
RF Nick Markakis
1B Ty Wigginton
LF Luke Scott
CF Adam Jones
3B Scott Moore
C Craig Tatum
SS Cesar Izturis
SP Brian Matusz (2-6, 5.28 ERA)
Don’t forget to join us in the Orange Crush chat this afternoon at 1:30 p.m., as WNST personalities will discuss the action from Camden Yards. As always, remember to follow us on Twitter (@WNST) for the quickest updates and quips about today’s game.
Check back right here for updates (time-stamped below) leading right up to first pitch at 1:35 p.m
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12:45 p.m. — Reliever Alfredo Simon appears to be on schedule in returning from a hamstring injury sustained two weeks ago in Washington. Interim manager Juan Samuel expects Simon to return to the closer role with lefty Will Ohman moving back to his setup role.
Speculation persists about the status of Jake Arrieta and when we can expect to see him in Baltimore. Arrieta did not make the start for the Norfolk Tides Saturday night but was later used for two innings of relief. The Orioles scratched him from the start because there were concerns over how long Jeremy Guthrie could pitch on Saturday because of some lingering soreness.
Guthrie ended up pitching 7 1/3 strong innings despite taking his sixth loss of the season. The Orioles are open to using Arrieta as a starting pitcher or even bringing him to Baltimore to work out of the bullpen in the short term. With Brad Bergesen being moved to the pen before Saturday’s game, it would seem logical to place Arrieta in the rotation in the near future.
The Orioles would have to make a 40-man roster move to purchase Arrieta’s contract.
