The Baltimore Orioles have one more tune-up game before they head to the playoffs.
Baltimore (90-71) will wrap up the regular season with a matchup against the Minnesota Twins (82-79) on Sunday afternoon in Minneapolis. The Orioles will go for a three-game sweep after recording a 7-2 win in the series opener on Friday and 9-2 victory on Saturday.
Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said he likes what he has seen from his team on a 4-1 road trip as it prepares to host a wild-card playoff series next week.
“A lot of guys have played really well on this road trip, so I’m encouraged how we’re playing going into the postseason,” Hyde said.
Meanwhile, the Twins will play one last game before they head into a long offseason that includes uncertainty around the future of their manager and their roster. Twins fans have chanted “fire Rocco” during the final series — a reference to their frustration at manager Rocco Baldelli and the team’s meltdown in the final six weeks of the season.
The Twins were 16 games over .500 on Aug. 16.
Twins right-hander Bailey Ober, who is slated to start in the finale, said he and his teammates were to blame for the late-season collapse.
“I feel like most of the blame should be on the players,” Ober said. “But everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. If the players hear that, I don’t think anyone is really agreeing with that. It’s like, seriously, can’t you see what’s going on? He’s not the one at fault for this mishap that happened. We didn’t get it done.”
The Orioles plan to turn to right-hander Albert Suarez (8-7, 3.74 ERA) in the regular-season finale. The 34-year-old will make his 32nd appearance and 24th start of the year.
Suarez will try to bounce back from back-to-back losses against the San Francisco Giants and Detroit Tigers. In his most recent outing versus Detroit, he allowed four runs on five hits in five innings. He walked one and struck out six.
This will be the second career start against the Twins for Suarez. In his first outing on April 17, he tossed 5 2/3 scoreless innings and scattered three hits.
Minnesota will counter with Ober (12-8, 3.94) in its final game. Ober has 187 strikeouts in 173 2/3 innings.
In his most recent outing, Ober allowed four runs on eight hits in five innings against the Miami Marlins. He walked two and struck out seven.
This will be Ober’s third career start against the Orioles. In his first two meetings, he went 1-0 with a 0.69 ERA. He walked three and struck out 13 in 13 innings.
Orioles infielder Emmanuel Rivera will try to stay hot at the plate after going 4-for-4 with a double, two homers and four RBIs on Saturday. The performance gave him five homers on the season, including four in 26 games since joining Baltimore from the Miami Marlins.
“It was something really special,” Rivera said through an interpreter. “I think every baseball player hopes to have a night like tonight, and thankfully I was able to have that one tonight.”
