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Thursday Orioles doubleheader vs. Rays game thread

The Orioles will play two seven-inning regulation games against the Rays tonight, with a rookie starting each game.

By Mark Brown
Baltimore Orioles v New York Yankees
Dean Kremer and his luxurious locks will be appearing in game 1 of the doubleheader.
Photo by Adam Hunger/Getty Images

Coming into today’s doubleheader against the Rays, the Orioles are given a 6.2% chance of making the postseason, as calculated by Baseball Reference. No one would want to have the fate of their life riding on a 6.2% chance, but as longshots go, it’s not THAT bad. That’s about 16-1 odds. If you had 16-1 odds of winning the lottery jackpot with the purchase of one $2 ticket, you would be very happy with that.

The Orioles keeping the slim chances alive probably involves a doubleheader sweep today. That’s not going to be easy since they are facing the first place Rays, who are 31-18 this season. However, the O’s are already 3-2 against these Rays, so it’s possible to beat them. Who knows?

Another interesting wrinkle is that both ends of this doubleheader will have a rookie as the Orioles starting pitcher. In Game 1, that’s going to be Dean Kremer, who looked good in his first two starts against the Yankees. In Game 2, Baltimore area native Bruce Zimmermann will be making his MLB debut.

The last time two rookies started games of a doubleheader for the O’s was in 2018, when Ryan Meisinger and Jimmy Yacabonis took the mound on Sept. 26. It’s kind of depressing just thinking about that. The O’s actually won one of the games despite this obvious waving of the white flag. I’m a bit more excited for today’s pair of rookies.

Oh yeah, and just in case the Orioles do their part and win these games, you might want to have an eye on the out-of-town scoreboard through the evening as well. It’ll be most helpful for the Orioles if the Blue Jays and Indians both lose games. The Indians are playing the Tigers, while the Jays face the Yankees. I’m not going to tell anyone to root for the Yankees to win, but the standings math is what it is.

Those games are both scheduled to begin around 7pm Eastern. The O’s could well have already won or lost the first doubleheader game by then.

Game 1 lineups:

Orioles

  1. Hanser Alberto - 3B
  2. Jose Iglesias - DH
  3. Ryan Mountcastle - LF
  4. Pedro Severino - C
  5. Renato Núñez - 1B
  6. DJ Stewart - RF
  7. Austin Hays - CF
  8. Pat Valaika - 2B
  9. Andrew Velazquez - SS

This is only the fourth game Alberto has started at third base this season. Rio Ruiz is getting game 1 off with the Rays sending up lefty Blake Snell.

Rays

  1. Yoshi Tsutsugo - DH
  2. Brandon Lowe - 2B
  3. Willy Adames - SS
  4. Nate Lowe - 1B
  5. Austin Meadows - LF
  6. Joey Wendle - 3B
  7. Kevin Kiermaier - CF
  8. Brett Phillips - RF
  9. Michael Perez - C

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