Wednesday night Orioles game thread: vs. Blue Jays, 7:05

The Orioles, after winning the opener of the three-game set against the Blue Jays last night, are in a somewhat familiar position. It’s the fourth time in the last five series that they’ve won the opening game.

You would think at least one of those would lead to a series victory. Nope. In each of the previous cases, the O’s ended up losing the final two games and the series. In fact, the Orioles have gone 0-11 in their last 11 games in which they could’ve clinched a series win. Ouch. They still haven’t won a series since April 22-24, when they took two of three against the White Sox (after, ironically, losing the opening game).

Can David Hess finally lead the O’s to the promised land? The bad news is that he’s been horrible this season, as his 1-8 record and 7.08 ERA can attest. The good news is that he’s facing the one team he had his most dominant performance against, the Blue Jays. It was in Toronto that Hess threw his 6.1-inning no-hitter way back on April 1, his first start of the year, before Brandon Hyde pulled him with a pitch count of 82. You might recall that being kind of a story.

In hindsight, maybe the O’s should’ve let him pitch longer and go for history. It’s not like limiting his pitch count that night has led to any great results for the rest of the season. In any case, Hess will hope to duplicate his outing, although the Toronto lineup he’s facing tonight is a bit different than that previous one, now featuring Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Cavan Biggio. Can lightning strike twice for Hess?

Orioles lineup:

SS Jonathan Villar
LF Anthony Santander
RF Trey Mancini
DH Chance Sisco
1B Renato Nunez
C Pedro Severino
3B Rio Ruiz
2B Hanser Alberto
CF Keon Broxton

RHP David Hess