Orioles going for series win to conclude road trip

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - A win today will return the Orioles to third place in the American League East, a half-game ahead of the Rays, who are 25-28 at home. The Orioles are 18-14 in the last game of a series.

A win also would make the Orioles 4-5 on a road trip that began with such promise and took a serious nose dive in the Bronx.

When super-agent Scott Boras dons his cape and soars into the Winter Meetings in Nashville, he's going to omit Wei-Yin Chen's record from his presentation to team executives. It's irrelevant. Check the 2.86 ERA and 1.9 walks per nine innings over Chen's first 18 starts. Check how he's a left-hander.

Check how the Orioles concede that he's not re-signing with them.

Chen has lost his last two starts, but he's strung together six quality starts in a row to raise his total to 13. Forget the 4-6 record. It doesn't define his season.

If the Orioles eventually become sellers, they may as well try hard to move him and insert one of their Triple-A starters into his spot. Continue to critique Mike Wright or Tyler Wilson. Envision whether one of them could move into the rotation in 2016. At some point, the Orioles must figure out whether Wright is better suited for the bullpen, perhaps as Tommy Hunter's replacement if the right-hander leaves as a free agent.

The alternative, of course, is making Chen a qualifying offer and taking the draft pick. Teams have plenty of starters to choose from, which could lessen Chen's value on the trade market.

In the meantime, the Orioles say they're looking to add pieces and go for it in 2015. They could have climbed within six games of first place last night if the Yankees hadn't rallied past the Twins. They were down 5-1 when Chaz Roe (or #ChazHands) recorded the final out at Tropicana Field.

Chen has faced the Rays three times this season. He allowed three runs and four hits in 4 1/3 innings on April 7, two runs and seven hits in six innings on May 3, and three runs and five hits in seven innings on May 30. He's 3-5 with a 3.42 ERA in 16 career starts against the Rays and 1-2 with a 3.10 ERA in nine start at Tropicana Field.

James Loney is 5-for-16 with two doubles and a home run against Chen. Kevin Kiermaier is 4-for-9 with a triple and home run, Brandon Guyer is 5-for-14 with three doubles, Logan Forsythe is 6-for-20 with a double and two home runs, and Evan Longoria is 8-for-28 with three doubles.

Matt Moore is making his fifth start of the season. He's 1-1 with a 7.23 ERA, 10 walks and 11 strikeouts in 18 2/3 innings. He's averaging 4.8 walks per nine innings.

In a small sample size, he's been the anti-Chen when it comes to locating the strike zone.

Moore has worked 4 2/3, 4 1/3, five and 4 2/3 innings in his four starts, keeping the Rays' bullpen busy.

Moore is 4-3 with a 3.86 ERA in eight career games (seven starts) against the Orioles. The current group is batting .322 (28-for-87) against him.

Adam Jones is 9-for-19 with a double and two home runs, Matt Wieters is 8-for-14 with a double and two home runs, Manny Machado is 3-for-10 with a double and triple, Chris Davis is 2-for-13 with a double, and Nolan Reimold is 0-for-3 with three strikeouts.

David Lough singled, tripled and scored two runs last night as the leadoff hitter, but does his left-handed bat crack the lineup today against Moore?

The ideal Orioles lineup for me would include Machado batting second and Jones third. Davis, the team leader in home runs and RBIs, would move down from the second slot that he occupied last night. But Showalter is scrambling to find the right combination and to get the offense in gear.