After two thrilling comebacks against Los Angeles and an offday on Monday, the Orioles kick off a three-game series at home against the Pirates.
For all the talk in recent years about how these two rebuilding teams were outplaying expectations, 2025 has not seen them outplay anything. The Pirates are currently last in their division, at 64-80, one of seven teams with a worse record than Baltimore.
The equation is simple: Pittsburgh’s offense is dreadful, last in the league in homers, slugging, and
wOBA.
This is a team that does not swing for the fences, or if they do swing, they don’t reach them, often. Their centerfielder, Oneil Cruz, is leading the teams in homers (19), which is kind of unusual. Their gifted third baseman, Ke’Bryan Hayes, has just a .569 OPS. Other players not hitting for power include first baseman Spencer Horwitz (7 HR in 91 G), shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa (1 in 119 G) and left-fielder Tommy Pham (8 in 106 G). Old friend Andrew McCutchen is their regular DH, and he’s hitting OK, but by no means up to his old standards: .244 BA, .386 SLG, .726 OPS.
Anyway, all the offensive blahness overshadows a pitching staff that’s been pretty competent. Well, more than competent in one way: Pittsburgh has the all-but-certain 2025 Cy Young Award winner in Paul Skenes, with a ridiculous 1.98 ERA in 29 games, 0.936 WHIP and 7.0 WAR.
The Orioles will face him on Wednesday, and if you’re an aficionado of great pitching, do head to Camden Yards. If you’re an O’s cheerleader who likes extra-base hits, maybe take this one off.
I guess it’s good news that all three Pittsburgh starters are righties? Besides Skenes, the O’s are facing swingman Mike Burrows and recent call-up Johan Oviedo – it’s a large drop-off in credentials. We’ll see if the Orioles can take advantage.
Game 1: Tuesday, 6:35 ET
Starting pitchers: Kyle Bradish (BAL) vs. Mike Burrows (PIT)
Oh, Bradish, it’s been good to see you. Since rejoining the rotation on August 26, Bradish has 15 strikeouts in 10 innings, his curveball and two-seamer looking as mean as ever. His command is still coming around, but who cares? It’s a pleasure to see this man pitch.
He’ll face the righty Mike Burrows, who’s been okay for Pittsburgh as a starter/swingman this season, with a 4.08 ERA in 19 games (16 starts) to go with a 1.26 WHIP and 82 strikeouts in 81 innings. His last two times out, Burrows threw two and three innings in relief, allowing one run on five hits against Boston, and keeping the Dodgers scoreless over three innings last week.
Game 2: Wednesday, 6:35 Eastern
Starting pitchers: Tyler Wells (BAL) vs. Paul Skenes (PIT)
This should be a fun matchup. Granted, it’d be more symmetrical if it were Bradish facing Skenes in a matchup of aces, but I’m very happy to watch Tyler Wells work. The big guy made his season debut on Sept. 2 after undergoing elbow reconstruction surgery in the summer of 2024. It wasn’t a perfect debut, but it was a good one. Wells showed surprisingly good command over five innings against San Diego, walking none and giving his team five innings, allowing two runs on five hits.
As for Paul Skenes, you probably already know about Paul Skenes. His numbers in his second season are outrageous: the 2024 Rookie of the Year leads the league in ERA (1.98), strikeouts (195), WHIP (0.95), and bWAR (7.0). This Orioles lineup is probably not going to keep him from putting on another masterclass.
Game 3: Thursday, 1:05 Eastern
Starting pitchers: TBD (probably Cade Povich) (BAL) vs. Johan Oviedo (PIT)
Cade Povich continues to show his boom-and-bust tendencies, although the last three starts have been more bust than boom. On Aug. 22, he allowed four runs against Houston. He held Boston to two runs after that, but last week San Diego touched him up four runs. The lefty Povich hasn’t gone more than five innings since August 10. A better offense than this would have me very worried, but maybe he’ll pull it off.
Johan Oviedo is a 27-year-old righty with just 77 career games (63 starts) under his belt. He’s been in the league since 2020, as a swingman with St. Louis, and came over to Pittsburgh in 2022 in a trade for José Quintana and Chris Stratton. After posting a 4.31 ERA in 32 starts in 2023, he had Tommy John in 2024 and was activated from the IL in August. This is another matchup the Orioles should hopefully take advantage of.
**
The Orioles could certainly take two of three in this series—or perhaps they have another late-inning comeback in them and outlast Skenes—do you feel lucky?
