Friday night Orioles game thread: vs. Yankees, 7:05

After a quick and unsuccessful two-game jaunt to Citi Field in New York, the Orioles return home tonight to face that other New York team.

The Birds split a four-game series with the Yankees at Camden Yards just over two weeks ago, but these pinstripers look a lot different than that club that stumbled out of Baltimore tied for last place. Since that series, the Yankees have gone 9-3, winning all four series they’ve played in that span. They’ve also welcomed back Luke Voit, baseball’s most prolific slugger last year (an MLB-leading 22 homers in 56 games), who was recovering from offseason knee surgery. Voit is 0-for-6 in two games so far, but a few games against the O’s pitching staff in homer-friendly Camden Yards could jump-start that bat.

As Tyler Young noted in the series preview, the Yankees are currently dealing with an outbreak of COVID-19 that has mainly affected their coaching staff but also landed shortstop Gleyber Torres on the injured list.

Dean Kremer is on the mound for the Orioles, still looking for his first win of the year. The Yankees handed him his worst outing of the season April 28, ripping 10 hits and six runs in 4.1 innings. Corey Kluber, meanwhile, has already beaten the Birds once this year, stymieing them for one run in 6.2 innings April 27.

The Orioles have a new cleanup hitter in tonight’s lineup, with Freddy Galvis slotting into the No. 4 hole for the first time in his major league career. He’s the Birds’ sixth different cleanup hitter, and fifth in their last nine games, as Brandon Hyde looks for ways to boost the slumping O’s offense.

Orioles lineup:

CF Cedric Mullins
LF Austin Hays
1B Trey Mancini
SS Freddy Galvis
DH Ryan Mountcastle
RF DJ Stewart
3B Maikel Franco
C Pedro Severino
2B Pat Valaika

RHP Dean Kremer

Yankees lineup:

2B DJ LeMahieu
1B Luke Voit
RF Aaron Judge
DH Gary Sanchez
LF Clint Frazier
CF Brett Gardner
3B Miguel Andujar
C Kyle Higashioka
SS Tyler Wade

RHP Corey Kluber