Wednesday night Orioles game thread: vs. Red Sox, 7:05

Last night, on the 10-year anniversary of the Curse of the Andino, the Orioles again delivered a crushing blow to Boston’s postseason hopes.

Now they get a chance to do it twice more.

The Birds’ come-from-behind, 4-2 victory in the opener extended the Red Sox losing streak to four in a row, and opened the door for the Blue Jays and Mariners to gain ground on them for the second Wild Card spot. The Jays failed to take advantage of that opportunity — losing to the Yankees to remain a game behind Boston — but the M’s won, overtaking Toronto and creeping just half a game behind the Sox.

Those teams will again be counting on the Orioles to knock out the Red Sox tonight, which probably isn’t something they should take to the bank. But hey, it happened once, why not again? The O’s will turn to Zac Lowther for the second leg of their all-rookie-lefty starting trio for this series. Lowther has faced the Sox in two of his nine big league games this season, and both went terribly — an abbreviated 3.1-inning, three-run outing at Fenway Park 11 days ago, and a 2.1-inning, seven-run disaster in his first major league start back in May. Maybe the third time’s the charm?

Orioles lineup:

CF Cedric Mullins
1B Ryan Mountcastle
RF Austin Hays
DH Trey Mancini
C Pedro Severino
LF Ryan McKenna
2B Pat Valaika
3B Kelvin Gutierrez
SS Richie Martin

LHP Zac Lowther

Red Sox lineup:

CF Enrique Hernandez
RF Hunter Renfroe
3B Rafael Devers
SS Xander Bogaerts
DH J.D. Martinez
1B Bobby Dalbec
C Kevin Plawecki
LF Alex Verdugo
2B Jose Iglesias

RHP Nathan Eovaldi