Tonight's game, prospect updates and former Orioles

The Orioles' road trip continues tonight with a stop in Detroit, where they won two of three games last season while taking the season series 5-2.

Adam Jones was 13-for-26 with two doubles, three home runs and seven RBIs in the seven games.

The Orioles haven't swept the Tigers in a three-game series in Detroit since 2004. The Tigers' last home three-game sweep of the Orioles came in 2010.

A sweep isn't the first priority for the Orioles. They need to end their season-long four game losing streak and then attempt to win the series.

It wasn't long ago that the Orioles were 8-1 in one-run games. They've dropped four in a row, all by one run.

Tonight's game presents another opportunity for the Orioles to face a left-hander, with the Tigers sending Matt Boyd to the mound. Does anyone know the club record through 37 games?

The Orioles are 8-7 versus left-handed starters this season. They've never faced Boyd, who's 2-3 with a 3.89 ERA and 1.449 WHIP in seven starts this season spanning 39 1/3 innings.

Left-handers are hitting .211 against Boyd this season and right-handers are hitting .262. In case anyone was holding out hope that Hyun Soo Kim would be in tonight's lineup.

Jones is expected to be in center field after sitting out Sunday's 9-8 loss in Kansas City. Two corner outfield spots and designated hitter likely will be divvied up between Mark Trumbo, Joey Rickard and Trey Mancini.

Rickard has two hits in his last 16 at-bats, including a home run, over five games since going 3-for-5 against the White Sox on May 7. He's batting .235/.250/.353 in 52 plate appearances.

Chris Davis has homered in back-to-back games and is 5-for-14 with five walks in his last four games. His .368 on-base percentage ranks second on the team to Seth Smith's .395.

wade-miley-gray-sidebar.jpgWade Miley has made one career start against the Tigers and allowed five runs and nine hits in six innings on Aug. 8, 2015 at Comerica Park. Justin Upton is 3-for-8 with a home run against him. Mikie Mahtook is 2-for-11.

Miley has allowed 52 baserunners in 36 2/3 innings. However, he's surrendered only 10 runs for a 2.45 ERA. It's a neat trick that probably can't be executed over the course of a full season.

Welington Castillo is expected to come off the disabled list this afternoon. He's never played at Comerica Park.

Fans have asked me about Chance Sisco and whether the Orioles would consider calling him up. They weren't going to do it with Castillo on the disabled list and they're certainly not going to do it with their starter back on the active roster.

Sisco hit his first home run Sunday for Triple-A Norfolk, but he was batting .245/.330/.351 in 94 at-bats before last night. He also continues to work on his defense. He isn't beating down the door and it's clear that Caleb Joseph is out of his offensive funk from 2016.

Sisco turned 22 in February and he needs more time in the minors.

I'm wondering who backs up Sisco at Norfolk if Francisco Peña doesn't stay in the organization. Armando Araiza was 4-for-9 in three games since the Orioles acquired him from the Braves, but Austin Wynns was hitting .347/.414/.495 with six doubles, three home runs and 13 RBIs in 101 at-bats with Double-a Bowie and his defense continues to impress.

Wynns is needed at Bowie right now because Audry Perez is on the disabled list and Yermin Mercedes, who moved up from Single-A Frederick, is considered below average behind the plate. He can hit, though.

If you're wondering about Hunter Harvey, and a viewer asked about him Saturday on "Wall to Wall Baseball" on MASN, the former first-rounder continues to throw bullpen sessions down in Sarasota without any discomfort in his surgically repaired right elbow.

A fan also asked whether the Orioles were going to promote pitchers Cody Sedlock and Keegan Akin, their top two picks in last year's draft, from Frederick to Bowie. Sedlock is 4-1 with a 4.38 ERA and 1.24 WHIP in seven starts and 37 innings. Akin is 2-3 with a 5.34 ERA and 1.65 WHIP in seven starts and 30 1/3 innings.

Sedlock has allowed one earned run or fewer in four of seven starts. In the other three, he's surrendered three earned runs in five innings, seven earned runs and 10 hits in 4 2/3 innings and six earned runs and nine hits in five innings.

Akin allowed three runs and five hits and walked four batters over three innings on May 4, but he held the Down East Wood Ducks to two runs and three hits over 7 1/3 innings in his next start.

In a related story, there's a minor league team known as the Down East Wood Ducks. They're the Rangers' high Single-A affiliate in Kinston, N.C.

Anyway, let Sedlock and Akin begin to dominate hitters in the Carolina League before thinking about the Eastern League.

If you're wondering about former Orioles outfielder Nolan Reimold, he was batting .294/.406/.490 with four doubles, two home runs and seven RBIs in 15 games with the independent Long Island Ducks, who are no relation to the Down East Wood Ducks.

Former Orioles left-hander Brian Matusz was 0-1 with a 6.11 ERA and 1.755 WHIP in 11 relief appearances with Triple-A Reno in the Diamondbacks' system. He allowed 12 runs and 26 hits in 17 2/3 innings, with five walks and 13 strikeouts.

Left-hander T.J. McFarland was 1-0 with a 1.59 ERA in five relief appearances with the Diamondbacks. He allowed one run and five hits, with no walks and three strikeouts, in 5 2/3 innings.

McFarland didn't allow a run in 11 innings with Reno over seven relief appearances.

Vance Worley was 2-5 with a 4.43 ERA and 1.433 WHIP in eight starts and 44 2/3 innings with Triple-A New Orleans in the Marlins' system. In his last five starts, he allowed one earned run in 5 2/3 innings, six earned runs and nine hits in four innings, one earned run in seven innings, eight earned runs and 12 hits in six innings and three earned runs in six innings.




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