Orioles turn to Shane Baz in middle game vs. Angels

The Baltimore Orioles carry a season-high-tying winning streak into Tuesday night's game with the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, Calif.

The Orioles' 6-1 victory in the opener of a three-game series marked the sixth time this season the Orioles have won three consecutive games. They'll turn to right-hander Shane Baz (4-7, 4.04 ERA) to see if they can make it four in a row on Tuesday.

Baz has bounced back from a slow start to the season with five quality starts in his last seven outings. He is 2-2 with a 2.92 ERA in four starts in June, allowing 22 hits and eight earned runs over 24 2/3 innings while striking out 19.

Baz has a 4.91 ERA without a decision in two career starts against the Angels. Both came in 2025 while pitching for Tampa Bay.

Right-hander Ryan Johnson (0-2, 12.83 ERA) will make his third career start for Los Angeles on Tuesday.

The 6-foot-6 Johnson, ranked as the team's No. 2 prospect by Baseball America entering the season, was recalled from the Double-A Rocket City Trash Pandas last Thursday and took the loss that night in a 5-0 defeat against the Athletics in West Sacramento, Calif. He allowed five runs on eight hits and two walks in five innings while striking out two.

Johnson gave up hits to the first six batters he faced, including a 430-foot, three-run homer to Shea Langeliers and a solo shot to Tyler Soderstrom during a five-run first inning. But he bounced back to throw four straight shutout innings while allowing just one more hit after that.

"It looked like too much of the plate with two strikes," Angels manager Kurt Suzuki told The Orange County Register about Johnson's slow start. "Then he settled in and started executing pitches and pitched really well."

Johnson has yet to face the Orioles in his career.

Baltimore got another standout performance from Kyle Bradish in winning Monday's series opener 6-1.

Bradish was a fourth-round pick in 2018 by the Angels who was dealt a year later along with three other minor league pitchers to the Orioles for Dylan Bundy.

Bradish allowed six singles over eight shutout innings while striking out nine on Monday. That came on the heels of a 5-3 victory at Seattle on Wednesday that saw him strike out a career-high 12 batters while allowing one run on five hits over 7 2/3 innings.

"KB was outstanding tonight. He was really impressive," Baltimore manager Craig Albernaz said. "For him to carry over what he did in Seattle into this start, to go eight strong innings, was huge."

Monday was also a big night for Orioles left fielder Taylor Ward, who drilled a home run to center field on the fourth pitch of the game in his first at-bat back at Anaheim Stadium following a November trade for pitcher Grayson Rodriguez. The first-round pick out of Fresno State in 2015 played eight seasons with the Angels and hit 36 home runs and drove in a team-high 103 runs last season.

The Angels honored Ward, 32, with a tribute video during the middle of the first inning.

"It felt good," he said. "Definitely pretty cool to soak that moment in and then get back to baseball."

--Field Level Media