Angels, Orioles meet after playing role of sellers at deadline

The look of the Los Angeles Angels and Baltimore Orioles won't be the same as last week when they head onto the field this week.

The teams meet Tuesday night, about 24 hours after the trade deadline, for the opener of a three-game set in Baltimore.

Both teams were active in altering their rosters Monday.

The Orioles were busy clearing space on the big-league roster by trading All-Star catcher Adley Rutschman to Boston, outfielder Taylor Ward to Seattle and reliever Tyler Wells to Tampa Bay. Baltimore received minor leaguers in return.

Samuel Basallo will be Baltimore's primary catcher once he returns from the injured list. In the meantime, they have Carlos Narvaez, acquired in the Rutschman deal, and Yohel Pozo behind the plate.

The Angels were sellers as well, sending pitchers Jose Soriano to Toronto, Brent Suter to Atlanta, Ryan Zeferjahn to the Chicago Cubs and Kirby Yates to Pittsburgh. The Angels also dealt outfielder Jo Adell to Cleveland. In return, they received a mix of prospects and other minor league players.

Both teams were off Monday, with the Angels arriving from the West Coast and the Orioles with a gap in their six-game homestand.

Neither the Angels nor the Orioles are exactly soaring into the series.

The Orioles have gone back-to-back games without scoring, although they batted in only five innings of Sunday's rain-shortened home loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. They've been blanked in three of their last five games.

"Extremely frustrating on a lot of different levels," Baltimore manager Craig Albernaz said.

Baltimore will try to avoid its first three-game skid since July 7-9.

The Orioles appeared to be wavering between seller and buyer modes as the deadline approached.

"What we have in this clubhouse is more than capable of winning, regardless of what they do," pitcher Kyle Bradish said after Sunday's game. "But at the end of the day, it's something you can't control."

Baltimore players wanted to give it a shot to make a climb in the AL wild-card standings.

"I have a lot of belief in this clubhouse and know that we can win a lot of games," Orioles outfielder Colton Cowser said.

The Angels halted a five-game losing streak with Sunday's 3-0 victory against visiting Milwaukee.

One of the Angels' recent callups is reliever Brett Kerry, who gave up one run over four innings on the weekend.

"The guy knows how to pitch," Los Angeles manager Kurt Suzuki said. "He throws strokes, attacks the zone, mixes in his pitches."

The Angels are listing left-hander Reid Detmers (3-7, 4.03 ERA) as their starter for the opener. He hasn't won in his last seven starts, with Los Angeles going 0-5 in his July starts.

Detmers' pitching victories have all come on the road, most recently June 16 at Arizona. Yet he had been the subject of trade speculation before staying put.

In six career outings (five starts) vs. Baltimore, Detmers is 1-2 with 2.35 ERA covering 30 2/3 innings.

Tuesday's spot in Baltimore's rotation likely would have been occupied by right-hander Dean Kremer, but he was traded to the Minnesota Twins on Friday. The Orioles should have options as they did not play Thursday or Monday and had a shortened game Sunday.

Tuesday's matchup will be only the fourth road game for the Angels since the All-Star break. They lost two of three at San Francisco from July 24-26.

--Field Level Media