Orioles, Tigers look to get back on track

Both the Detroit Tigers and Baltimore Orioles are trying to right their respective ships as both teams have run into lots of trouble in past two weeks. They'll both try again when starting a three-game series at Oriole Park on Monday afternoon.

The Tigers are coming off a 4-3 loss to the New York Mets in a series where Detroit dropped two of three. The win the Tigers got in this series was the only one they've come up with in their past 12 games.

Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire wants his team to be competitive on a regular basis and is hoping things will change.

"We want to give ourselves a chance every night," Gardenhire said on the team's website on Sunday. "These guys are playing and they are trying. These are tough losses. I believe they will come out fighting tomorrow."

One of the team's biggest problems has been its lack of offense. The Tigers have a .226 average through 50 games, 25th in the majors.

That's made it tough for them in various games since the Tigers just have not been hitting consistently throughout the first part of the 2019 season. They broke out a bit in Friday's 9-8 win over the Mets but slipped Sunday in the loss.

Detroit also made a move after Sunday's loss, picking up veteran reliever Austin Adams on waivers from the Twins, who had designated him for assignment. The right-hander should give the Tigers more depth in their bullpen.

Left-hander Daniel Norris (2-2, 4.30) will start for the Tigers against righty Gabriel Ynoa (0-1, 5.60) in Monday's game. Norris (1-1, 3.86 career ERA against the Orioles) has pitched in four games versus Baltimore, and this will be his third start.

Ynoa is stepping in for Dan Straily in the Orioles' rotation. So far this season, Ynoa has pitched mostly in long relief, but the Orioles need more stability than Straily has shown recently. Ynoa will be making his first start this season; it also will be his first since the 2017 season and hasn't pitched versus the Tigers.

The Orioles are coming off a tough series in Colorado, where they lost two of three, both coming in walk-off fashion.

The most recent loss came Sunday, when the Rockies rallied for two in the ninth and scored an 8-7 victory on a Tony Wolters sacrifice fly. Both walk-off losses were served up by Mychal Givens -- a two-run homer in the ninth from Trevor Story in Friday's game -- as well as what happened Sunday.

Givens had been pitching well for a while in the closer's role but has run into a lot of command and control issues. The right-hander issued the tie-breaking walk with the bases loaded in the top of the ninth that gave the Yankees a 6-5 victory on Thursday.

The Orioles are going to have to figure out what to do with Givens and their closer role because they've had a number of games they could not finish off. Baltimore has lost 11 of its last 13 games, but the Orioles have been right in many of them, a fact not lost on manager Brandon Hyde.

"We just had a tough time closing the door down," Hyde said in a post-game interview with MASN. "(But) we don't quit. This is a team that battles."

Playing in a National League city forced the Orioles to use their already-thin bench and bullpen more the past three games -- as well as the bullpen -- and they brought up right-hander Evan Phillips while putting struggling first baseman Chris Davis on the 10-day injured list (left hip inflammation).

--Field Level Media