Orioles Game 148 Game Thread: vs. Rays, 7:05

Of course we don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but it is pretty important for the Orioles to get a win in a game where they have their best starting pitcher across the whole season starting against a bad Rays offense, with the Rays starter, Matt Andriese, having a 7.62 ERA over his last eight starts. You can't screw around in a game like that. Gotta win it.

That doesn't mean the Orioles will win, of course, and it doesn't mean that the Orioles suck if they should happen to lose, but it's important. It's hard to beat even a bad baseball team. Even a bad team is going to win at least 60 games, after all, and those wins come from somewhere. We can only hope that the Rays don't get one of their wins here.

Mark Trumbo is out of the lineup again. Maybe that's not a bad thing if it means that Hyun Soo Kim is in the lineup, and Pedro Alvarez, and even Michael Bourn, one of the heroes of last night's game-ending play at the plate. Hey, the Orioles might have at least one good outfielder out there. What a concept! Not that any of them will be as good as Kevin Kiermaier, at whom the Orioles will hopefully not hit too many fly balls. But it's something.

Out-of-town scoreboard watch for today: The Red Sox have taken a 6-5 lead over the Yankees as I write this, but the game will (presumably) be over by the time it posts; also root for the Indians against the Tigers (first pitch 4:10), Angels against the Blue Jays (first pitch 9:05), root for the Astros against the Mariners (first pitch 9:10). And the most important thing is that the Orioles gotta win!