(Photo credit: David Richard-Imagn Images)

Fresh off one of the best starts of his career, Cleveland right-hander Luis L. Ortiz will oppose his former team for the first time when the Guardians visit the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night to open a three-game series.

Ortiz (1-2, 6.06 ERA) will try to reverse his team's recent fortunes as Cleveland is coming off back-to-back road losses to the Baltimore Orioles. Cleveland was held to a combined three runs in those losses despite registering 15 hits. The Guardians went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left 13 runners on base.

Ortiz spent his first three big league seasons with the Pirates before he went to Cleveland in December in a three-team deal that also included the Toronto Blue Jays. Ortiz went 12-13 with a 3.93 ERA in 59 overall appearances (34 starts) with Pittsburgh. Ortiz went 5-7 with a 4.12 ERA in 115 2/3 innings at PNC Park while pitching for the Pirates.

After giving up a combined 10 runs and striking out only five over his first two starts, Ortiz recorded a career-high 10 strikeouts on Saturday against the Kansas City Royals. Ortiz pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing one run on one hit (a solo homer by Vinnie Pasquantino) and two walks on 100 pitches. Ortiz induced 17 swings and misses, and his fastball topped out at 97.8 mph.

'It was really good to be able to help the team and get that recognition on the mound,' Ortiz said through his interpreter after Saturday's start. 'That's what I wanted to do, and I was very happy to enjoy that situation and that I was able to do it.'

Ortiz will oppose Pirates right-hander Carmen Mlodzinski (1-2, 6.23), who continues to seek consistency since transitioning from reliever to starter this season.

Mlodzinski picked up his first win on April 7 against the St. Louis Cardinals when he gave up one run on five hits and struck out six over five innings. But he could not string together back-to-back effective outings, however. On Sunday, Mlodzinski gave up four runs on five hits and two walks while striking out four over 4 1/3 innings in a 4-0 loss to the host Cincinnati Reds.

The common thread in Mlodzinski's two subpar starts has been his inability to navigate through an opposing lineup a second or third time. Mlodzinski allowed two runs in the third inning and two more in the fifth on Sunday.

'It's figuring out where do my mechanics start to go when I get later in the game, and I do start to have some fatigue and, ultimately, how do I get outs?' Mlodzinski said Sunday. 'What are these guys trying to do against me the second and third time through, and where can I start to attack in order to be more efficient and get the outs that I need later in the game?'

Mlodzinski has never started against Cleveland but sports an 0-1 record and 18.00 ERA in two relief appearances spanning two innings.

The Pirates' rotation has been stellar since Mlodzinski's last start, with starters going six or more innings in each of their last four games.

Bailey Falter and Andrew Heaney each tossed at least seven scoreless innings over the Pirates' past two games, both wins. Pittsburgh's offense, however, continues to struggle with consistency. The Pirates prevailed despite scoring only one run -- on Oneil Cruz's leadoff home run -- on Thursday. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it marked only the second time since 1900 that Pittsburgh won a game 1-0 with its lone run coming on a leadoff homer.

--Field Level Media