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The Orioles are set to play the last of their three summer exhibition games tonight. The game is set to air on MASN, though MASN did not bother last night and I guess won’t bother tonight with having both the home and road broadcast teams, so don’t expect much or any Orioles-focused commentary.
Opening Day is a mere three days away. At the time this last exhibition game begins, the countdown to the first pitch in the first game will be at about 73 hours and 30 minutes. Between now and then, the O’s will have to make their last decisions on trimming down the roster to the 30 players they’re allotted for the beginning of the season.
As far as tonight’s starting lineup goes, most of the players in it have almost certainly had roster spots assured since everyone reported in February. One player who is an exception is Dilson Herrera, who seems to be in position to land a super-utility kind of role, something opened up for him by the combination of Dwight Smith Jr.’s expected early season absence as well as the expanded 30-man active roster.
- Austin Hays - CF
- Hanser Alberto - 2B
- Anthony Santander - RF
- Renato Nunez - DH
- Jose Iglesias - SS
- Pedro Severino - C
- Chris Davis - 1B
- Dilson Herrera - LF
- Rio Ruiz - 3B
The starting pitcher is Kohl Stewart. It seemed like Stewart had been shoved out of the starting rotation picture by the addition of the pair of veteran lefties, Wade LeBlanc and Tommy Milone. However, with John Means now being out of the picture for Opening Day with Milone taking his place, that does crack the door a bit more for Stewart. He can’t hurt his case by pitching well here.
The exhibition is not without some risk. Two days ago, Stevie Wilkerson broke a finger while making a catch in the outfield in Philadelphia and now he’s probably going to miss most of the season. Hays took a pitch off the knee and didn’t play yesterday, though at least he’s back today. Hopefully no one gets hurt tonight.