MLB Game Preview - Toronto at Baltimore

Wed Apr 5, 2017 7:05 PM EDT

BALTIMORE -- The Baltimore Orioles will try Wednesday to do something they could not do last year against the Toronto Blue Jays -- sweep a series.

Granted, this will be a short series. The teams finish a two-game set at Camden Yards with right-hander Dylan Bundy (10-6, 4.02 ERA last year) going for the Orioles against left-hander J.A. Happ (20-4, 3.18 last year).

However, neither team swept a series with the other last year, and they often keep things close.

Last year, the Jays (0-1) won the season series 10-9. That gave them the home-field advantage in the American League wild-card game, which, predictably went into extra innings before Toronto pulled out a 5-2 victory on Edwin Encarnacion's three-run homer in the 11th.

And the first game of 2017 also went 11 innings with a similar -- but reversed -- ending. This time, Mark Trumbo hit a walk-off homer that gave the Orioles a 3-2 victory on Monday.

"They have a great team, too," Trumbo said Monday. "So a lot of things could happen. The pitching on both sides was really, really good. That's why you see some of these games keep progressing like that."

A one-run game is not surprising as eight of the 19 games were one-run battles last year. Why? There are a lot of similarities between the two teams.

Each has power and good pitching in spots -- Toronto with one of the American League's top starting rotations and Baltimore boasting one of best bullpens.

Sometimes with the Jays and the Orioles, it is about who gets the final shot. The Orioles got that break Monday, something that worried Toronto manager John Gibbons.

"This is one of those places you don't feel good when they get the last at-bats," he said. "They are probably the top power hitting team in the game top to bottom."

There also has been some bad blood between the teams in the last few years.

Jose Bautista was roundly booed in Baltimore on Opening Day. He has not been a fan favorite in Charm City in recent years, but when Dan Duquette, the Orioles' executive vice president for baseball operations, said in the offseason that the team would not sign Bautista as a free agent because the fans don't like him, that added something to the mix.

Josh Donaldson of the Jays also got plenty of boos, which dates to a scuffle he had with Orioles third baseman Manny Machado a few years ago.

Runs also could be at a premium in this game as both starters are coming off strong seasons. Bundy (1-0, 0.00 ERA in four career relief appearances against the Jays) is a former first-round pick who stepped into the starting rotation in the second half of last year and really threw well at times.

Happ achieved his first 20-victory season last year and has a career mark of 4-3 with a 3.56 ERA in 12 games against the Orioles.

The Orioles have a few injury questions, involving pitchers Wade Miley, Darren O'Day and Machado. Miley, who started the season on the disabled list (upper respiratory infection), threw a simulated game at Double-A Bowie on Tuesday and told The Baltimore Sun that he now can go.

He could start Sunday against the Yankees.

The Sun also reported that O'Day (flu) was feeling better and might not have to go on the disabled list. Manager Buck Showalter said Monday that could be a possibility if O'Day was still not doing well Wednesday.

Machado appeared to scrape/roll his left wrist after making a diving stop late in the Monday game but said afterward that he felt fine.