Monday night Orioles game thread: @ Mariners, 9:10

If you plan on spending your Labor Day evening watching a 40-97 Orioles club play west coast baseball, there is special place on O’s Fan Heaven for you. The Orioles start a three game series against the Mariners tonight at Safeco Field. Tonight’s game is at 9:10 while the next two are at 10:10. This is the middle stop on a bizarre Kansas City, Seattle, Tampa Bay road trip.

The O’s come into this game having establishing themselves as the worst team in baseball following a sweep at the hands of a sorry Royals. That is unfortunate, given that they had swept the Blue Jays prior to that. The Mariners just completed a three city road trip against Arizona, San Diego, and Oakland in which they went 4-5. Most recently they split a four game set against the A’s. They enter this series 5.5 games out of a wild card spot.

Josh Rogers will make his second major league start for the O’s tonight. He started off strong in his first start before two shaky innings to end his outing. Overall, it was good enough for his first career victory. It will be interesting to see how he handles himself on the road against a team with playoff aspirations.

Erasmo Ramirez will pitch for the Mariners and is carrying a 6.28 ERA through 28.2 innings in what has been an injury-shortened 2018 campaign. His career ERA of 4.29 suggests that he’s better than he’s shown this year. He got rocked in his last start, only his sixth of the season, to the tune of seven runs allowed in three innings.

The Orioles made two roster additions today: Chance Sisco and Jimmy Yacabonis. This increases the size of the active roster to 28 players. Yacabonis will provide an arm out of the bullpen and is an option to make a start down the stretch. It isn’t clear how Sisco will factor into the catching mix. Will Buck Showalter use him as an emergency catcher or will he be in rotation with Caleb Joseph and Austin Wynns? Count me as wanting to see the former top prospect get the bulk of September starts behind the plate.

Cedric Mullins is in the lineup against the right-handed starter. Trey Mancini is batting third and DH’ing. Joey Rickard gets the nod in left field and Joseph will start at catcher.

Orioles lineup:

• Cedric Mullins CF
• Jonathan Villar 2B
• Trey Mancini DH
• Adam Jones RF
• Chris Davis 1B
• Tim Beckham SS
• Renato Núñez 3B
• Joey Rickard LF
• Caleb Joseph C
• Josh Rogers LHP

Mariners lineup:

• Mitch Haniger RF
• Jean Segura SS
• Robinson Cano 2B
• Nelson Cruz DH
• Ryon Healy 1B
• Kyle Seager 3B
• Cameron Maybin LF
• Mike Zunino C
• Dee Gordon CF
• Erasmo Ramírez RHP