DBacks hit road to face Reds, Orioles

Following a six-game homestand, the Arizona Diamondbacks head back on the road this week. They have an off day Monday then take on the Reds and Orioles for a pair of three-game sets.

Much like the Diamondbacks, both Cincinnati and Baltimore are packed with exciting young players.

The Reds feature Elly De La Cruz, Spencer Steer and Christian Encarnacion-Strand, all of whom debuted in September 2022 or later.

The Orioles are perhaps the only club with more exciting young talent than Arizona. Catcher Adley Rutschman is now in his third full season but Gunnar Henderson, Jordan Westburg, Colton Cowser and Grayson Rodriguez are all 25 or younger and performing like stars this season.

The Diamondbacks did not have a fun trip to Cincinnati a year ago. They were swept in a three-game set, sending their season to a low point during their mid-summer swoon. By the end of the year, though, they finished two games ahead of the Reds, securing the final wild-card spot. That was partly possible because of an August series in which the Diamondbacks took three of four.

The lone series between the Diamondbacks and Orioles last year was a three-game set at Chase Field, in which Baltimore won two of three. The Diamondbacks last visited Oriole Park at Camden Yards in 2016, when they were swept. It is one of just two stadiums, along with Boston’s Fenway Park, that Arizona has not visited since General Manager Mike Hazen and manager Torey Lovullo took over before the 2017 season.

The series is also intriguing because the Diamondbacks and Orioles, in many ways, mirror one another. The two clubs both went 52-110 in 2021, earning the top two picks in the following amateur draft.