The Baltimore Orioles continue to dominate the American League East and are preparing to come face-to-face with a pitcher they opted to trade away but likely do not have many regrets about it considering their lead in the division. Jake Arrieta was sent to the Chicago Cubs in a move that did not really pay off for the Orioles while the pitcher slowly puts together a late-season comeback.
The Orioles are red hot but so is Arrieta. Baltimore received Scott Feldman and Steve Clevenger for the pitcher and both players have not done much. Feldman was sent to Houston after going just 5-6 with a 4.27 ERA in 12 starts. Meanwhile, Arrieta is surging with the Cubs, putting together a 6-4 record and 2.61ERA in 19 starts this season. That is a big change from his first run with the Orioles where he put together just a 5.46 ERA. Facing the Orioles will not be easy for the pitcher. The team owns a nine-game lead in the American League East thanks to their 31-13 record since the end of June.
Baltimore is fresh off a series sweep of the Chicago White Sox where Nelson Cruz, Adam Jones and Steve Pearce all put together big home runs. The Orioles have now won four straight games thanks to their league-leading 161 home runs. Cruz is leading the charge, putting together four home runs and nine RBIs in his last 10 games. All of that hitting is overshadowing their strong pitching rotation. Baltimore pitchers have a combined 2.87 ERA since the end of June.
Kevin Gausman gets the start opposite from Arrieta. He is 7-4 with a 3.70 ERA and is looking for his fifth quality start. In his last start he gave up just one run and two hits over six innings. That helped him improve to 3-1 with a 3.23 ERA in his last five games. He should do well against the struggling bats of Chicago. However, both Welington Castillo and Justin Ruggiano homered against the San Francisco Giants. Baltimore has won two of three at Wrigley field since 2008 and aim to keep it up.
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