**Join us in the Orange Crush live chat at 7:00 as the Orioles welcome the Washington Nationals to town in the first interleague series of the year.**
BALTIMORE — With the New York Yankees thankfully back in the Bronx after sweeping Baltimore in a two-game series, the Orioles welcome the Washington Nationals to town to open interleague play for 2011.
The Orioles (19-23) took the season series last year, 4-2, after going 3-0 in Baltimore and losing two of three at Nationals Park in D.C. Baltimore holds a 16-14 all-time edge over Washington in the annual interleague matchups.
Jake Arrieta will try to halt the Orioles’ three-game slide when he takes the hill against Washington’s Jason Marquis. The 25-year-old will be making his second career start against the Nationals after surrendering five earned runs over 4 1/3 innings in a game the Orioles eventually won with seven unanswered runs scored from the fifth inning on in a 7-6 victory.
The 32-year-old Marquis made his only start against Baltimore as a member of the Chicago Cubs. He allowed seven runs and seven hits in four innings of work at Wrigley Field in an Orioles win in 2008. Marquis has pitched two other times in relief against the Orioles, holding a career 11.57 earned run average in seven career innings.
After using Chris Jakubauskas and Troy Patton to rest a tired bullpen on Thursday night, the Orioles have optioned both to Triple-A Norfolk and recalled second baseman Ryan Adams and outfielder Nolan Reimold. Adams will make his major league debut tonight and was hitting .303 with two home runs and eight runs batted in for the Tides.
Of course, Reimold is a familiar face to Orioles fans after a promising start to his big league career in 2009 before dealing with a heel injury. Last year was a disaster to say the least, as Reimold hit .207 in 116 at-bats and was demoted in May. He returned to Baltimore as a September call-up, hitting .212 in his 33 at-bats. Reimold is not in Friday’s lineup, but will start in left field on Saturday, according to Orioles manager Buck Showalter.
In other news, Brian Matusz is still slated to make his second rehab start on Saturday, this time for Double-A Bowie.
Here are tonight’s starting lineups:
Washington
CF Roger Bernadina
SS Ian Desmond
LF Laynce Nix
RF Jayson Werth
DH Matt Stairs
1B Adam LaRoche
C Wilson Ramos
2B Danny Espinosa
3B Jerry Hairston Jr.
SP Jason Marquis (5-1, 3.54 ERA)
Baltimore
LF Felix Pie
CF Adam Jones
RF Nick Markakis
DH Vladimir Guerrero
C Matt Wieters
1B Luke Scott
SS J.J. Hardy
3B Mark Reynolds
2B Ryan Adams
SP Jake Arrieta (5-1, 4.03 ERA)
As we do for every weeknight home game, join us in the Orange Crush live chat beginning at 7:00. Talk about the game with us as an array of WNST.net personalities visit the cyber sports bar throughout the evening! Be sure to follow us on Twitter (@WNST) for the latest updates and analysis regarding the happenings from Oriole Park at Camden Yards!
