Wednesday night Orioles game thread: at Blue Jays, 7:07

Game 159 of the 2019 season is upon us, and if you’re still watching the Orioles at this point, you deserve major props. Did you know that only 20% of fans show allegiance to bad teams? Well, that’s you. Congratulations!

This series with the Toronto Blue Jays has been an interesting one—you have to give the Orioles that. After an excruciating Game 1 where they blew not one, not two, but three leads en route to losing in 15 innings, the Orioles followed up with a tidy effort last night that made me recall that faded sensation lying somewhere deep in my subconscious: ah yes, the feeling of watching good baseball. Dylan Bundy pitched a great game, hopefully a sign that he’s stabilized as a finesse pitcher and will contribute to rotations of the future.

Today, the Orioles send to the mound a pitcher who excites me a bit less: Gabriel Ynoa, currently the owner of a 1-9 record with a 5.65 ERA. The Orioles are still, it seems, auditioning Ynoa for a starter role. In what I’ve seen of him, his stuff is less predictable in a receiver role, but this is 2019, so why not try it?

Last week Ynoa tossed his third quality start of the year, against the Blue Jays, no less. He went 6.1 innings on 77 pitches, and allowed 3 runs. If that’s sustainable, he’ll continue to get looks.

Toronto is countering with the righty Jacob Waguespack, who’s 4-5 in 12 starts this year with a 4.75 ERA, a 1.365 WHIP, and 58 strikeouts in 72 innings. The tall righty out of Geismar, Louisiana has seen his ERA creep up in his last seven starts (he’s 5.29 since August 16), but his last time out, he executed an aggressive game plan of inside fastballs against the Yankees, and it appears to have worked OK, to the tune of three runs over five innings with six strikeouts.

Orioles Lineup

Jonathan Villar SS
Austin Hays CF
Trey Mancini DH
Dwight Smith Jr. LF
Rio Ruiz 3B
Hanser Alberto 2B
DJ Stewart RF
Chris Davis 1B
Austin Wynns C

Blue Jays Lineup

Billy McKinney RF
Breyvic Valera SS
Cavan Biggio 2B
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. DH
Rowdy Tellez 1B
Teoscar Hernandez CF
Brandon Drury 3B
Derek Fisher LF
Luke Maile C