Orioles at Royals
The bickering Baltimore Orioles continue their eight-game road trip Friday with the the first of three against the Kansas City Royals as another dugout incident demonstrated the club's frustration. Baltimore (44-89) is heading toward its second straight 100-loss season despite winning five of their last eight games with Wednesday's 8-4 loss at Washington marred by a confrontation between left-hander Richard Bleier and third base coach Jose David Flores.
"Right now, we're not thrilled with each other maybe," Bleier, who was apparently upset with defensive positioning, told reporters. "But I'm sure we can move past this and get back to a healthy relationship." Earlier this month, Orioles first baseman Chris Davis (.175 average, 123 strikeouts in 275 at-bats this season) had to be restrained from manager Brandon Hyde after he was removed for a pinch hitter. Kansas City, which is also on pace to lose 100 games for the second straight season, fell to Oakland 9-8 on Thursday and has dropped seven of nine. The Royals' Eric Skoglund on Friday makes his second appearance of the season since being recalled from Triple-A Omaha.
TV: 8:15 p.m. ET, MASN (Baltimore), FS Kansas City
PITCHING MATCHUP: Orioles TBD vs. Royals LH Eric Skoglund (0-0, 3.60 ERA)
Baltimore left-hander John Means (9-9, 3.91 ERA) was placed on the family emergency list Sunday but could return to make his scheduled start. Right-hander Taylor Scott was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk on Thursday - a move that might have been made to accommodate Means' return. If not, Dylan Bundy (6-13, 4.98) could pitch on regular rest after last working Sunday.
Skoglund allowed two runs, two hits (home run) and three walks in five frames of Kansas City's 9-8 victory in 10 innings at Cleveland on Sunday. The 26-year-old Florida native served an 80-game suspension to start the season for violating Major League Baseball's performance-enhancing drug policy before appearing in 13 contests with Omaha and Double-A Northwest Arkansas prior to his recall. Skoglund received a no-decision in his only start against the Orioles, yielding three runs over 6 1/3 innings of Kansas City's 5-3 loss at Baltimore on May 9, 2018.
WALK-OFFS
1. Royals SS Nicky Lopez and INF-OF Whit Merrifield extended their hitting streaks to 12 and 11 games, respectively, with Merrifield going 7-for-12 in his last three contests.
2. The Orioles franchise hasn't suffered consecutive 100-loss campaigns since 1953 and 54 - the first of which when they were the St. Louis Browns.
3. Baltimore won two of three versus Kansas City from Aug. 19-21 with INF Jonathan Villar going 5-for-11 with two home runs and three RBIs.