Tuesday night Orioles game thread: at Rays, 7:10

The Orioles have already received one gift in their series against the Rays without even having to play a game. On Tuesday afternoon, the Rays placed reigning AL Cy Young winner Blake Snell, who was probably on turn to pitch on Thursday, on the injured list.

The result of the injury is that the O’s will not see Snell in the series. That’s good news for the O’s even as it’s bad news for Snell’s toe:

Here, then, is one of the many strange injuries that Cal had to dodge in order for The Streak to go as long as it did. He never tried to move a two-part stand with a granite base, unaware that it was two parts, immediately after getting out of the shower.

This is no help for the Orioles on Tuesday night. They have to face Tyler Glasnow and his 0.53 ERA for 2019. One way to look at that is that he’s due to give up some runs, right?

Meanwhile, Orioles starter Dylan Bundy is due to stop giving up runs. Entering the game with an 8.76 ERA, Bundy is in prime territory to judge this start using the Matusz Test, named after the disastrous 2011 season of ever-escalating ERAs by Brian Matusz.

If Bundy lowers his ERA tonight - in this case essentially by giving up fewer earned runs than innings he pitches - then he passes the test. He could still pitch poorly and pass the test. That’s the thing about the Matusz Test. Its expectations are so low that to still manage to fail it, as Matusz repeatedly did while starting that season, is impressively horrible performance for a starting pitcher. Please stop giving up home runs.

Tonight’s starting lineup as the Orioles look to take the series opener on the road:

1. Jonathan Villar - SS
2. Trey Mancini - RF
3. Dwight Smith Jr. - LF
4. Renato Núñez - DH
5. Rio Ruiz - 3B
6. Hanser Alberto - 2B
7. Chris Davis - 1B
8. Jesús Sucre - C
9. Cedric Mullins - CF