Padres face Orioles for 2-game series in Baltimore
BALTIMORE -- The Baltimore Orioles become the final team in the majors to start interleague play when they face the San Diego Padres in a two-game series beginning Tuesday night at Camden Yards.
Baltimore (40-29), which leads the American League East by one game, has played all of their games against American League opponents but now will see the Padres four times in nine days. The Orioles head to San Diego (29-42) for a two-game series next Tuesday and Wednesday.
Every other team in the majors has played at least two interleague games.
The Orioles will be ending a tiring three-day stretch. They finished a three-game home weekend series with the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday and originally were scheduled for a day off on Monday.
But a rainout in Texas earlier this season on Baltimore's lone trip in 2016 forced a makeup game on Monday night. The Orioles flew to Texas for the game -- a 4-3 loss -- and turned around to return home for the Padres after that.
Orioles manager Buck Showalter talked Sunday about how this quirk in the schedule won't be an easy task.
"I think the big one is coming back (from Texas)," Showalter said. "Once again getting to bed at six or seven o'clock in the morning. They certainly didn't do us any favors by setting a start time at basically eight. That is a challenge, one we face a lot, though. Start times are not regulated."
The Orioles will be playing their third game without Manny Machado, currently serving a four-game suspension for his part in the brawl with Kansas City pitcher Yordano Ventura earlier this month. Machado returns Friday when Baltimore starts a four-game home series with the Tampa Bay Rays, which includes a split doubleheader Saturday.
Both starting pitchers in this game, Baltimore's Tyler Wilson (3-5, 4.16 ERA) and Luis Perdomo (2-2, 8.79), are coming off victories.
Wilson turned in his best start of the season in last Thursday's win over Boston where he blanked the hard-hitting Red Sox for eight innings. He allowed only three hits in shutting down the Red Sox.
Perdomo is a Rule 5 pick who posted his first major league victory as a starter on June 15 against Miami. He gave up three runs and six hits in six innings, and the Padres are hoping for more of the same against the hard-hitting Orioles.
The Padres, who had an off-day Monday, also will wait until they get to Baltimore to see what's going on with Jon Jay, who left Sunday's game with Washington after Gio Gonzalez hit him in the arm.
MLB.com reported that Jay left the game after five innings and manager Andy Green said X-rays on the forearm were negative. The site also said that Green doesn't think Jay will go on the disabled list.
"Just bruised right now, a little sore," Green said on MLB.com. "We'll see how he rebounds in Baltimore. Just going to wait and see how he responds."
The Orioles took two of three from Boston on the road last week and did the same versus the Jays in Baltimore before the loss in Texas.
San Diego sits last in the National League West and split a four-game series with the Nationals, winning the final two and scoring 13 runs in the process. The Padres are 1-3 in interleague play this year.
