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J.J. Hardy is back! Yay! Hopefully the Orioles celebrate this joyous occasion by ending their present New York losing streak. That would be the ideal scenario. But to win a game they'll have to start hitting.
Is Yankees starter Nathan Eovaldi going to be the key to that? He's already pitched against the O's once this year and gave up eight hits in five innings of work, though he also struck out nine batters. On the year, Eovaldi has surrendered 38 hits in 28.1 innings, which is bad. By contrast, O's starter Chris Tillman has allowed 25 hits in 26 innings - but Tillman, unfortunately, has walked half the world.
Steve Pearce is back at second base. Are we really going to keep doing this? I guess we are. It hasn't burned the Orioles yet, but it feels like it's only going to be a matter of time until it does. Hopefully tonight is not the night where that happens.