The Baltimore Orioles have clinched their second road series win of the season after their 2-1 defeat of the Toronto Blue Jays Tuesday night.
Now the Orioles, who won two of three against the New York Yankees to open the season, can complete a sweep of the three-game series in Toronto on Wednesday.
Baltimore will start Nate Karns (0-0, 0.00 ERA) and Toronto will counter with Matt Shoemaker (1-0, 0.00) in the series finale.
The Orioles won Tuesday with six run-less innings from Andrew Cashner. Paul Fry and Miguel Castro took care of the final three innings. Castro picked up the save despite giving up a home run to Rowdy Tellez in the ninth.
That should leave some arms in the bullpen to pick up Karns, who has not been stretched out to be a regular starter. As an “opener” March 30, he lasted two innings and 33 pitches, allowing one hit, three walks and no runs in a 5-3 victory over the Yankees.
“Would I love to extend him past two?” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “Yeah, I would love that. I just don’t know how he’s going to feel, if we’re able to extend him a little bit.”
Karns was signed as a free agent in February to be a starter after not pitching all last season as a Kansas City Royal because of right-elbow inflammation.
He did not come out of his first start at spring training well, however, and worked as a reliever the rest of the camp. He had seven outings (one start) during spring training, allowing three runs with nine strikeouts in nine innings.
Hyde still cannot say whether Karns will be able to be stretched out to be a regular starter.
“I think it’s too early to tell,” Hyde said. “He bounced back good after the two innings in New York, but he didn’t have a full buildup in spring training, obviously, because of the setback. I think we’re really playing it by ear with him. We want to keep him on the field. We want to keep him healthy. That’s our main concern right now.”
Karns has faced just one current Blue Jay, Freddy Galvis (1-for-2, one double).
He has one career start at the Rogers Centre, earning the win with seven shutout innings — two hits, two walks, a hit batsman, and eight strikeouts — Sept. 12, 2014 with the Tampa Bay Rays. He has allowed no runs in 13 innings over two starts against the Blue Jays. He is 1-0 against them.
Shoemaker will make his second start for the Blue Jays. He was impressive in his first start with seven scoreless innings in a win over the Detroit Tigers March 29. He has not faced the Orioles since 2016 and is 2-1 with 2.88 ERA against them in four career starts.
The Blue Jays had a busy day Tuesday, trading center fielder Kevin Pillar to the San Francisco Giants. They released reliever Bud Norris. Finally, they extended the contract of outfielder Randal Grichuk for five years for $52 million.
Anthony Alford was recalled from Triple-A Buffalo to replace Pillar. Alford started in center field Tuesday and was 0-for-3. “He’s one of those young guys who is going to get a chance at the big-league level,” Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said.
Grichuk was used only as a pinch hitter Tuesday, grounding out when he batted for Alford in the ninth inning. Montoyo said Grichuk’s value is that he can play all three outfield positions well.