Arizona Tries to Sweep
A visit to Camden Yards has helped the Arizona Diamondbacks rediscover their offense.
The Diamondbacks look to complete their fifth series sweep of at least three games on Sunday afternoon when they face the plummeting Baltimore Orioles.
Oddsmakers have made Arizona -140 money line favorites (MLB Odds) for todays game, the over/under has been set at 8un total runs (Matchup). Our public betting information shows that 60% of bets for this game have been placed on Arizona -140 (View MLB Bet Percentages).
Arizona entered this series with six losses in seven games, while averaging just 2.7 runs during that stretch. In the first two games of this series, the Diamondbacks (39-30) have scored 15 runs.
On Saturday, Scott Hairston, Chad Tracy and Chris Young all homered to lead Arizona to an 8-4 victory.
"We’ve got to keep it rolling because after we get two or three games where we swing it OK, we at times seem not to,” manager Bob Melvin said. "We’ve got to … keep grinding our bats because we expect to get better offensively, and the last two games have been pretty good.”
A victory Sunday would give the Diamondbacks their third three-game sweep this season. They also swept four-game series from Washington and Houston.
"We’ve been having fun, but I guess after you lose a few in a row, you start pressing a little more,” Young said. "After these last couple games, you can tell out there that we’re a lot more loose and having a lot more fun now.”
Melvin Mora homered and drove in three for the Orioles (29-39), who have lost seven straight and 12 of 14 since entering June with a .500 record.
The seven-game skid is the Orioles’ longest since they dropped nine in a row Sept. 18-26, 2005.
Baltimore finally made some changes to its beleaguered bullpen Saturday, releasing Todd Williams and placing Danys Baez on the 15-day disabled list with tendinitis in his right forearm. James Hoey and Cory Doyne were both recalled from Triple-A Norfolk to take their places.
Those moves, however, didn’t pay off Saturday as Hoey surrendered three runs in two-thirds of an inning.
The Orioles bullpen has given up at least one run in 10 of the last 12 games and is 0-7 with a 9.78 ERA in that span.
Brandon Webb (6-4, 3.18 ERA) will try to keep the Diamondbacks rolling. Despite another solid outing, Webb had his personal three-game win streak snapped Tuesday with a 4-1 loss at Yankee Stadium. The right-hander allowed four runs – three earned – and five hits in seven innings.
He had given up only two earned runs in 22 innings while winning his previous three starts.
Webb made his only career start against the Orioles on June 9, 2004, when he gave up two runs and four hits over five innings before leaving without a decision.
Baltimore counters with Brian Burres (3-2, 2.80), who was originally scheduled to start Saturday, but was pushed back to give his sore shoulder an extra day of rest. The left-hander will be starting for the first time since June 5 after tossing 1 1-3 scoreless innings in relief against Washington on Tuesday.
Burres has performed well as a starter, allowing two runs or fewer in each of his last five outings, but has yet to pitch past the sixth inning.
He has never faced the Diamondbacks.
by: Michael Cash – thespread.com – Email Us
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