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

Run support is a completely random phenomenon during which the baseball gods smile down on one lucky soul to ease his path to a pitching “win.” For the Orioles, the most frequent recipient of run support in 2019 has been none other than Thursday night’s starter, Andrew Cashner.

Whenever the big righty is on the mound, his offense is scoring 6.25 runs for him on average. That’s a pretty beefy number, especially since this Orioles team is just a mediocre bunch at the plate. They have scored 82 total runs this season, spread over 19 games. That’s an average of 4.32.

Not to mention, Cashner has needed every ounce of help that he’s been given. He enters this start with a 5.31 ERA and 6.21 xFIP while striking out just 3.98 batters per nine innings. Yikes.

Phenomenon or not, the O’s could use some good fortune in the Sunshine State. They have scored just three runs in this series against Major League Baseball’s hottest team. It would nice to finish off the three-game set with a flourish.

Orioles lineup

1. Jonathan Villar, 2B
2. Trey Mancini, LF
3. Dwight Smith Jr., DH
4. Renato Nunez, 1B
5. Rio Ruiz, 3B
6. Joey Rickard, RF
7. Richie Martin, SS
8. Pedro Severino, C
9. Cedric Mullins, CF

RHP Andrew Cashner

Rays lineup

1. Austin Meadows, RF
2. Tommy Pham, LF
3. Ji-Man Choi, 1B
4. Yandy Diaz, DH
5. Brandon Lowe, 2B
6. Mike Zunino, C
7. Kevin Kiermaier, CF
8. Daniel Robertson, 3B
9. Willy Adames, SS

RHP Hunter Wood