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It’s going to be tough for Orioles second baseman Jonathan Villar to have a better game on Tuesday night than he did on Monday, but there’s a lot of room for a number of his teammates. If other guys play better, maybe the Orioles can beat the Yankees in the second game of this three-game series.
Asher Wojciechowski starts are one of those things where it’s tough to muster a whole lot of enthusiasm. Seven games into his Orioles career, he has been fine, so that’s been nice. With some of the horrible pitchers we’ve seen through here over the past four or so seasons, a starter with a 4.15 ERA and 4.54 FIP is fine.
That guy’s not winning any Cy Young awards, but he’s not contributing to the Orioles once again having the worst starting rotation, by ERA, in the American League. This title is being contested, though. Orioles starters have a 5.45 ERA and Mariners starters have a 5.43 ERA. Things could look different even by the end of tonight.
The reason I find it tough to get excited when Wojciechowski pitches is that even if he’s fine for the rest of the season, he’s probably not going to end up being part of the future. He’s already 30 years old and thus not an interesting young player.
Who knows, though. Maybe he’s a late bloomer. Pitchers don’t get extra points shaved off their ERA for being successful in MLB starting early in their 20s. It’s just less likely that a guy who only puts things together at 30 - if that’s what Wojciechowski is now doing - will sustain success for many years beyond the one. It’d be cool if he pitched well tonight, though, so the Orioles could get back on the “.500 since the start of July!” train.
The Yankees have gone with reliever-as-starter nine times this season and they won each of those games. They are doing this tonight with Jonathan Holder. The other nine times were with Chad Green. This 9-0 fact is equal parts annoying and impressive.
The starting lineup includes DJ Stewart, who has been freed from Norfolk, at least for the moment:
- Jonathan Villar - 2B
- Trey Mancini - RF
- Anthony Santander - DH
- Renato Núñez - 1B
- Pedro Severino - C
- Hanser Alberto - 3B
- DJ Stewart - LF
- Stevie Wilkerson - CF
- Richie Martin - SS