Baltimore Orioles (9-7) vs. Washington Nationals (5-11)
The 2023 Major League Baseball Season is continuing through the fourth week as the Baltimore Orioles travel to take on the Washington Nationals in this interleague battle at Nationals Park in Washington, DC on Wednesday, April 19, 2023. No line or total was set at the time this preview was written.
This is the second contest of a two-game set between the clubs. The first game was played on Tuesday evening, but this preview was written prior to the conclusion of that contest. These teams played four times last season with Baltimore winning three of the contests, including both games in Nationals Park.
The Baltimore Orioles were off on Monday but closed out their three-game series with the Chicago White Sox with an 8-4 victory on Sunday. That was the third victory in the last four for Baltimore who entered Tuesday’s contest in fourth place in the AL East. The Orioles are 5-4 on the road.
Baltimore found themselves trailing by four coming out of the first inning but scored three in both the fourth and eighth innings and added a run in the sixth and ninth to earn the victory. Cedric Mullins led the way for Baltimore, recording three hits and driving in four. He now has 15 RBIs through the first 16 games. This is a solid Orioles lineup, third in OPS (.807) and they are second in runs scored this season (94). The team has hit 22 homers and is second in runs per game (5.9 7). Over the last 10, they have been slightly better, averaging 6.21 runs per game.
Gassed up ?? pic.twitter.com/MZm5tcygwn
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) April 16, 2023
Grayson Rodriguez was hit hard in the first but then tossed four shutout innings. The bullpen took over from there, tossing four scoreless frames. The bullpen has been solid so far, posting a 3.56 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP. That is good news, as the team had not named the starter as of Tuesday afternoon. That could be because Keegan Akin, Kyle Bradish, and John Means have all been on the disabled list. Akin was expected to be reinstated on Tuesday.