BALTIMORE — The resilient Los Angeles Angels can finish a three-game sweep of the struggling Baltimore Orioles on Sunday at Camden Yards.
Los Angeles won the opener 7-1 on Friday and beat the Orioles 6-2 on a sweltering Saturday afternoon.
The Angels entered the series on a six-game losing streak
Vontae Davis Jersey , but will leave Baltimore very much alive in the American League wild-card race.
On Saturday, Mike Scioscia managed his 3,000th regular-season game for the Angels, not that he has kept count.
“You don’t think about it,” said Scioscia, who has been with the club since 2000 and is 1,613-1,387 (.538 winning percentage). “It’s 3,000, one game at a time.”
The Orioles have lost seven straight and fell to 0-15 against AL West opponents. Manager Buck Showalter vows the team will keep fighting and try to find bright spots.
“It’s been tougher on our fans and our players. I don’t look at it that way,” said Showalter, whose team has lost 17 of 18 at home. “All things considered, it’s an unbelievable way to do something you love and be able to pay the bills with it.”
Deck McGuire (0-0, 6.08 ERA) will start for the Angels in place of John Lamb, who had an MRI on his left elbow that revealed a torn ulnar collateral ligament. Lamb will undergo UCL reconstruction surgery in Los Angeles.
The Angels have seven starting pitchers on the disabled list.
As a result, they will be leaning on McGuire to help stabilize the rotation. However, he has made only two previous major league starts among his 12 appearances and has never faced Baltimore.
Los Angeles had a positive development with phenom Shohei Ohtani, who hit in a simulated game Saturday at Angel Stadium. Ohtani has a Grade 2 sprain of the ulnar collateral ligament of his right elbow. The team is hoping he can avoid Tommy John surgery.
“There definitely be a consensus from the medical staff on how he feels,” Scioscia said. “We’ll see if he has enough velocity to go out there and play.”
Ohtani underwent stem-cell therapy and received a platelet-rich plasma injection to heal a damaged ligament. He was given the OK to begin batting practice Thursday.
Kevin Gausman (3-6, 4.20 ERA) is looking to help pull the Orioles from their doldrums. However, he lost his last four decisions and has not completed seven innings in any of his last eight starts.
In his last outing, Gausman was solid in earning a no-decision, allowing one run and five hits in six innings of a 3-2 loss to the Seattle Mariners. He was effective managing his pitch count throughout the game.
“That’s huge,” he said. “Kind of seems like that’s what I do every start lately is kind of get in jams the first inning, throw a lot of pitches. It’s always big to kind of bounce back and have a quick inning.”
Gausman is 1-3 with a 5.97 ERA in five starts against the Angels.
Baltimore also received some bad news on the injury front. Reliever Darren O’Day opted to have season-ending surgery on his injured left hamstring. The recovery time is six months, according to Showalter.
O’Day also missed more than a month with a hyperextended elbow. The sidearmer is 0-2 with a 3.60 ERA in 20 games this season. He was placed on the 60-day disabled list Friday.
Showalter said O’Day has not yet finalized the time and place of the procedure.
The Nationals broke out of their offensive funk in a big way.
Juan Soto hit two of Washington’s seven home runs, finishing with four hits and five RBIs, and the Nationals routed the Philadelphia Phillies 17-7 on Friday night.
Anthony Rendon, Trea Turner, Bryce Harper
Lane Taylor Jersey , Brian Goodwin and Mark Reynolds also homered for the Nationals, who set a season high for homers. Washington hadn’t homered while losing its last three, getting outscored 16-3 in those defeats.
”We’re back,” Soto said.
Rendon added two doubles and three RBIs, and Harper also contributed three hits and three RBIs. With his drive, Harper became the first NL batter to reach 20 homers.
”We needed that,” manager Dave Martinez said. ”Bats came alive and they came alive big.”
Rhys Hoskins, Scott Kingery and Carlos Santana homered for Philadelphia. Kingery was a triple shy of the cycle.
The teams combined for 28 hits, including 16 for extra bases, on a steamy night in Philadelphia with the game-time temperature 90 degrees.
Erick Fedde (1-3) earned his first major league win in his eighth career start, allowing five runs on eight hits in five innings with three strikeouts and three walks.
Nick Pivetta (4-7) continued to struggle against the organization that drafted him. The right-hander was shelled for seven runs on seven hits, including three homers, in 1 2/3 innings to fall to 0-3 with an 11.94 ERA in five career starts against Washington. Pivetta, a fourth-round pick in 2013, finished June 0-4 with a 7.71 ERA in six starts.
Already leading 12-7, Washington sandwiched solo homers from Goodwin and Reynolds around Soto’s second of the night, a three-run shot off Hector Neris in the ninth.
Washington jumped on Pivetta for four runs in the first. Adam Eaton led off with a single and Turner quickly made it 2-0 by sending a 94-mph fastball into the seats in left.
”That sparked everyone,” Martinez said.
It was 4-0 three batters later when Soto also cleared the wall in left with a two-run shot.
Soto said he didn’t put a home run swing on either of his drives.
”I just try to make a good swing,” he said.
Rendon blew the game open in the second with an opposite-field, three-run drive to right that made it 7-0.
Two innings later, Harper’s three-run homer to left off Yacksel Rios put the Nationals ahead 10-0. And it was 11-0 later in the frame after Wilmer Difo’s two-out RBI double to left.
”Everybody had fun,” Soto said. ”I hope we can do the same thing tomorrow. Same plans.”
RHYS’ RESILIENCE
The biggest Phillies highlight came in the fifth when Hoskins culminated a 14-pitch at-bat with a line-drive homer to left-center. The Philadelphia slugger fouled off eight pitches, including seven in a row with a 3-2 count. It gave him eight homers and 22 RBIs since returning from the DL (broken jaw) on June 9. Hoskins has gone deep in three straight games.
”It was one of the better at-bats I’ve seen,” Phillies manager Gabe Kapler said. ”Really special.”
WALK THIS WAY
Santana had a walk to give him a free pass in six straight games and up his total this month to 27, which is the most for the Phillies in June since Greg Luzinski walked 28 times in 1980.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Nationals: 3B Ryan Zimmerman (oblique) took batting practice on Friday and could begin a rehab assignment as early as Monday. Zimmerman has been out since May 12.
Phillies: Right-handed reliever Pat Neshek, out all season with a right shoulder strain, allowed a run on two hits while striking out the side in one inning during a rehab outing at Double-A Reading on Friday night.
UP NEXT
RHP Vince Velasquez (5-8, 4.69) takes the mound for the Phillies in the third game of the four-game set on Saturday afternoon. Washington RHP Jeremy Hellickson (2-0, 2.28) is expected to return from the DL. Hellickson has been sidelined since June 4 with a right hamstring strain.