Phillies news and rumors 6/14: Team scheduled to face Orioles’ best starting pitchers this weekend

Citizens Bank Park has been home to the Phillies since 2004. (Tim Kelly/Phillies Nation)

After losing their series to the Boston Red Sox, the Phillies now head to Baltimore to face another AL East club in the Orioles.

A season after winning 101 games, Baltimore is once again one of MLB’s better teams. With a 45-23 record, the O’s are second in their division and one of three major-league teams with 45-plus wins, alongside the Phillies and New York Yankees.

Coming off a series win at Camden Yards over the Atlanta Braves, the Orioles starting rotation is set up quite nicely as they welcome the Phillies to town. They’ll send their three best starters to the mound to face one of baseball’s better offenses.

Kyle Bradish is scheduled to pitch Friday against the Phillies, with Grayson Rodriguez scheduled for Saturday and Corbin Burnes scheduled for Sunday’s game.

Bradish has made seven starts so far after starting the season on the injured list with a right UCL sprain. The right-hander, who finished fourth in AL Cy Young Award voting last season, doesn’t seem to have been affected by his injury since making his season debut on May 2.

Bradish has a 2.62 ERA, 1.78 FIP and 1.5 wins above replacement, according to Fangraphs, across 34 1/3 innings. Opponents are hitting only .190/.287/.270 against him and he’s averaging 12.8 strikeouts per nine innings pitched. On top of that, Bradish has only allowed more than two earned runs once this year and has yet to surrender a home run as he induces ground balls at one of the higher rates in this majors (54.4%).

Rodriguez, once considered the best pitching prospect in baseball, has looked the part in 2024. The 24-year-old has a 3.27 ERA, 3.32 FIP and 1.3 WAR in 11 starts. He’s held opposing lineups to a .678 OPS while relying mostly on his four-seam fastball that averages 96.1 mph. Rodriguez has allowed no more than two earned runs in nine of his starts.

As for Burnes, he’s become the Orioles’ ace after being acquired in a February trade with the Milwaukee Brewers. In 14 starts, the 29-year-old has a 2.08 ERA, 3.22 FIP and 2.0 WAR while batters have hit .204/.255/.307 against him. He’s only striking out 8.5 batters per nine innings, a low mark when compared to previous seasons, but he’s still been very effective at limiting runs. Burnes has yet to allow more than three earned runs in an outing this year and has allowed just one earned run over his last three starts (21 innings).

The Phillies’ pitchers Bradish, Rodriguez and Burnes are set to square off against are Ranger Suárez, Taijuan Walker and Zack Wheeler.

Of those three, Sunday’s Father’s Day matchup of Wheeler-Burnes is as must-watch as a mid-June game can be. Both are the aces of their respective pitching staffs and have become two of baseball’s better starting pitchers in recent seasons. They’ll also be forever linked as the runner-up (Wheeler) and winner (Burnes) for the 2021 NL Cy Young Award.

This weekend’s series between the Phillies and Orioles looks to be a good one. It could be an early preview of what’s to come this fall in the World Series. It’s also the first time these two clubs will meet at Camden Yards with both owning a winning record, as noted by MLB.com’s Paul Casella. All around, it should be a fun series to watch.

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