After moving back into sole possession of first place in the American League East with a strong all-around effort on Friday, the Baltimore Orioles will turn to ace Corbin Burnes on Saturday as they try to clinch their weekend series against the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg, Fla.
The Orioles moved a half-game ahead of the New York Yankees with a 4-1 victory in the series opener. Zach Eflin scattered four hits over seven shutout innings and Colton Cowser and Cedric Mullins both homered.
Baltimore, which improved to 4-4 on its season-high 10-game road trip, also got some standout defensive plays by shortstop Gunnar Henderson and third baseman Ramon Urias en route to its seventh win in eight games against the Rays this season.
“That was one of our most satisfying games in a while for me just because of the pitching that we got and the defense that we played,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “I just thought that we played really good baseball, baseball that we played the first few months of the season.”
The Orioles are just 12-15 since July 9 but still hold a half-game lead over the New York Yankees, who had their game rained out on Friday.
“Timely hits, really good defense, big plays defensively and outstanding pitching,” Hyde said. “That was fun to watch.” Eflin improved to 3-0 in three starts since being acquired in a trade from the Rays on July 26. He tied his season high with seven strikeouts and walked one.
“Honestly, it was kind of like an out-of-body experience,” Eflin said of pitching against his former team at Tropicana Field just two weeks after the trade. “Being with these guys — what was it, like, 15 days ago? — being in that clubhouse and then showing up and seeing all the workers I was friends with, seeing some of the guys on the team and staff.”
Hyde said, “A little extra motivation pitching against the team you were just with. He’s made three outstanding starts for us. That was textbook pitching.”
Burnes (12-4, 2.63 ERA), in the hunt for his second career Cy Young Award, will try to move into a tie for the major league lead in wins on Saturday. He has faced Tampa Bay once in his career.
That was on June 10 in St. Petersburg, where he allowed two runs (both unearned) on five hits over seven innings while striking out six in a 5-2 win.
The Rays, five games behind the Kansas City Royals for the final AL wild-card spot, will answer with right-hander Drew Rasmussen (0-0, 0.00 ERA) as an opener.
Rasmussen, who threw two 1-2-3 innings of relief on Wednesday at St. Louis in his season debut, is 2-0 with a 2.13 ERA in six career appearances (four starts) against Baltimore but hasn’t faced the Orioles since 2022.
Rasmussen had his fastball touch 98.7 mph on the radar gun and struck out three in his first major league appearance since May 11, 2023. He underwent his third elbow surgery in seven years last July and will be used as a reliever and opener for the rest of the season.
“I’m really excited about where I’m at and I’m really excited about the opportunity to play again,” Rasmussen said.
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