Saturday Game thread VIII – Orioles at Royals

Wouldn’t it be swell if the Royals didn’t have to play a third straight rubber match tomorrow?

The first time through the rotation was not particularly kind to Michael Wacha. Certainly, he could have been worse, but only getting four innings out of your starter is rarely a recipe for success, and the Royals ended up losing that game when the bullpen imploded behind him. Fortunately, he has something of an example to pull from. Cole Ragans and Seth Lugo didn’t have great season debuts, either, but both pitched much better their second time out. It would be great if Wacha could do the same today.

The Orioles, who failed to add much in the way of starting pitching to their roster after watching staff ace Corbin Burnes head to Arizona, will counter with the starter they did add, 35-year-old rookie Tomoyuki Sugano out of the NPB. Sugano had a 1.67 ERA in his last season with the Yomiuri Giants but has never struck out many and does not possess overpowering stuff. He could hardly be more dissimilar from fellow erstwhile-NPB rookie Roki Sasaki.

Sugano features six different pitches – a sinker, a four-seam fastball, a cutter, a slider, a curveball, and the Japanese staple, a splitter. He throws them in a pretty even mix, but only the splitter is comfortably rated as above average by FanGraphs stuff+ metric, based primarily on his ability to locate it. In his major league debut he went only four innings against the Blue Jays. He gave up a pair of runs on four hits and two walks with only one strikeout before exiting the game due to cramps in both of his hands. He has been medically cleared to start today, but it’s anyone’s guess how that might affect his ability to pitch effectively.

Lineups

The Royals have chosen to finally give Michael Massey half a day off today as he will be the designated hitter. Curiously, Maikel Garcia will start at second while Jonathan India will start at third. The Royals still won’t give Mark Canha a start in the outfield for some reason, so both MJ Melendez and Hunter Renfroe will be in today’s starting lineup.

The Orioles will have the recently returned Gunnar Henderson at designated hitter rather than in the field, leading one to question if he’s fully healthy. They are also giving star catcher Adley Rutschman the day off rather than waiting until tomorrow when Gary Sanchez would be able to face the left-handed Kris Bubic.

So basically, neither team’s lineup choices are evoking a ton of confidence. We’ll just have to see how things play out.