Monday afternoon Orioles game thread: at Blue Jays, 2:07

Well, this road trip hasn’t gone as planned.

A week ago, the Orioles departed on their seven-game, two-city trek as a 14-win team. Now, as the trip comes to a close, the Orioles are...still a 14-win team.

They’re 0-5 with one postponement on the trip, and now they’ll hope to avoid a four-game sweep at the hands of the Blue Jays before returning home. They’ll hand the ball to Keegan Akin, who’s making his first major league start after a pair of relief appearances. He takes the spot vacated by Tommy Milone, who was traded to the Braves yesterday (and subsequently gave up seven runs in 2.1 innings in his Atlanta debut last night). With both Milone and Wade LeBlanc (season-ending injury) gone from the rotation, Akin should get a nice long audition as a starter in the bigs.

Today, he’s the only thing standing between the Orioles and a winless road trip. Good luck, young fella.

Meanwhile, this afternoon is also the MLB trade deadline, so we’ll see if Mike Elias has any more swaps in store after dealing Milone and Mychal Givens yesterday. For now, the Orioles are fielding their A-team starting lineup today, but we’ll be on #hugwatch (or socially distanced air-high-five watch, perhaps) to see if anyone is scratched from the lineup mid-game.

Orioles lineup

2B Hanser Alberto
RF Anthony Santander
SS Jose Iglesias
1B Renato Nunez
C Pedro Severino
DH Chance Sisco
LF Ryan Mountcastle
3B Rio Ruiz
CF Cedric Mullins

LHP Keegan Akin