The Baltimore Orioles face an uphill battle when heading on the road on Thursday for a head-to-head showdown with the AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox. It has been a relentless nosedive for the Orioles, who have been swept in their last three consecutive series meetings. Their recent 3-2 loss to the Minnesota Twins marked the ninth straight time they have fallen in defeat. They’ll try to end the streak against a White Sox team that just toppled the St. Louis Cardinals in a three-game series. Bruce Zimmermann has been pegged as the starting pitcher for the Orioles opposite of Chicago’s Dylan Cease.
Baltimore Orioles vs. Chicago White Sox
Thursday, May 27, 2021 – 08:10 PM EDT at Guaranteed Rate Field
The Orioles are on a nine-game losing streak staring at a four-game series against the AL Central-leading White Sox. I don’t know what they did to upset the MLB scheduling gods, but they need to figure out a way to fix it.
They have been swept in their last three consecutive series meetings, including their recent outing against the struggling Minnesota Twins. Well, the Twins obviously weren’t struggling as bad as the Orioles after bringing out the brooms in the series.
Imagine getting lit up by the Twins’ batting lineup only to find yourself in the crosshairs of a White Sox team with the league’s No. 3-ranked run-scoring offense.
It’s a brutal position to be in.
Bruce Zimmermann (5.59 ERA) gets the honors of opening things up as the Orioles’ starting pitcher. The team can only pray he has a gem up his sleeve for a pitching rotation that’s allowing the third-most hits and fifth-most runs. It has been a mess defensively for Baltimore this season. The team might also be without outfielder Austin Hays and third baseman Ryan Mountcastle.
Zimmermann has to stand his ground to give the Orioles a chance to steal a win. They aren’t built to go blow-for-blow with this White Sox offense. Chicago is only allowing an average 3.17 runs per game when playing at home.
So the Orioles will have to scratch and claw for runs in this one.
White Sox starting pitcher Dylan Cease would love to put some distance between himself and his ugly performance against the New York Yankees last Saturday. He got knocked around by the hard-hitting bats of the Yankees for five earned runs in 4.1 innings of work. Granted, he wasn’t the only one that took a beating in that game considering the White Sox were shut out 7-0.
Now, Cease will have the opportunity to take out his frustrations on the team with the worst record in baseball at Guaranteed Rate Field. He has fanned 56 total batters with a 3.18 ERA and 1.30 WHIP on the season. That puts him in a great position to dominate an Orioles team that rarely gives itself a chance to be successful with the sixth-worst on-base percentage.
On the other end, the White Sox have to get their offense going after laying a goose egg in the finale with the Cardinals. They certainly aren’t losing sleep over that performance considering they won the series, but it did follow a couple rough offensive outings in the Yankees series as well. Granted, the Orioles aren’t the Yankees defensively, but the White Sox need to use their bats to send a message early.
It’s out of the frying pan and into the fire for the Orioles in this matchup.
They got cooked in the previous series by the Twins offense. So Dylan Cease being on the mound for a White Sox team coming off a 4-0 loss surely means the Orioles are about to get burned on Thursday night.
Their pitching rotation has struggled throughout the season, and Bruce Zimmermann is far from a savior against a White Sox batting lineup capable of lighting up the plate at the snap of a finger. He has given up seven hits and four-plus runs in his last two road outings, which doesn’t bode well for him heading into Guaranteed Rate Field. It’ll be like pitching his way out of a hornets’ nest.
Cease should be motivated get back on the winning track after faltering against the Yankees. There’s no better way of doing that than taking advantage of an Orioles team that will clearly be in over their head.
I’m taking the White Sox to breeze to a blowout as the run-line favorites in this one.
MLB Pick: White Sox -1.5 (-115) at BetOnline
