Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays Game Postponed

Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Miguel Gonzalez (50) .. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

The Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays scheduled game for this evening has been postponed to a date to be named later, perhaps in June.

It will be a while before Marylanders forget the winter of 2013-2014. It is the accursed gift that just keeps on giving… even with snow and mid 20s temps in mid April. That is so, so wrong!

At the time of this writing on Tuesday evening, the announced plan is for the scheduled starters for each team to be pushed back a day. This will mean that Jake Odorizzi will be starting for the Rays, while Miguel Gonzalez will be going for the Baltimore Orioles.

Apparently both Buck Showalter and Joe Madden will not keep the originally-scheduled Wednesday afternoon matchup of Chris Tillman and David Price – pushing Tillman back to open against Boston and Price to pitch at home against the Yankees. Of course, all of this could change.

Possibly causing the change for the Rays could be the health of Odorizzi, who has apparently been sick the past couple of days. And speaking of sickness, Adam Jones, along with Evan Meek, were the latest victims of the virus going around the Orioles locker room. Jones was not going to be in the lineup today, and it will be interesting to see how quickly he bounces back … while hoping also there is an ending for this bug.

So with the pitching matchup of Odorizzi / Gonzalez, I’ll write again much of what was originally written to be actually happening at the time while I’m writing this right now, alright? Stick with me.

After getting pretty much shelled by the Tigers in his first outing (7 runs, 9 hits, 3.1 innings), Gonzalez did put up a quality start against the Yankees in his second game – giving up three runs in six innings.

However, there is not a great deal of confidence and security to be gained from Gonzalez’ career numbers against the Rays. He is 2-6 over 11 starts with a 4.90 ERA. Even so, the batting average against is .239, which is not bad at all. Combine all of this with a WHIP of 1.25, and clearly he has lost some close games with poor run support … but lots of pitchers could say that about their lifetime experiences against Tampa Bay.

The matchups of Rays hitters against Gonzalez is not too bad either. Longoria is 5-for-15, though Chen has kept him in the yard. However, Desmond Jennings has taken Miguel over the fence three times in his four hits over 18 at bats. But then again, Ben Zobrist is only 2-for-19, and not many pitchers can say that.

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

BB

SO

BA

Desmond Jennings

18

4

0

0

3

6

3

4

.222

Ben Zobrist

19

2

1

0

0

1

2

4

.105

13

2

0

0

0

1

5

2

.154

16

5

0

0

1

1

2

3

.313

14

4

1

0

0

1

2

1

.286

14

3

0

0

0

1

0

2

.214

12

4

0

0

1

2

1

0

.333

6

1

0

0

0

0

0

2

.167

The Baltimore Orioles will be facing another young Rays pitcher in Jake Odorizzi, though they have practically no track record against him, as he has only ever pitched 3.2 innings against the Birds. David Lough is 1-for-2 and Nick Markakis 1-for-1. Adam Jones has struck out both times against him.

In Ororizzi’s two starts this season, he has had two varied experiences. In his first outing against the Rangers, he shut them out over six innings with only three hits; but in his second start against the Royals, he was lit up for seven runs on 10 hits over five innings.

If you’re going to the game, dress warmly! And with the weather and the pitching matchup and all else that is happening, it could be a really strange game.