Wednesday night Orioles game thread: at Yankees, 7:05

Last night was weird. There were extra innings. The Orioles didn’t have a ton of available arms in the bullpen. The top of the lineup had a terrible game. Tonight will be different, or at least that’s what I tell myself as an Orioles fan that has dealt with perpetual disappointment for most of my fandom.

Brandon Hyde is trotting out almost an identical lineup to the one that took the field on Tuesday, with the one change being a swap of positions for Trey Mancini and Ryan Mountcastle. That’s exciting! This is the Orioles best lineup given the current talent we could reasonably expect in the major leagues.

This feels like the perfect night for Adley Rutschman’s first major league home run. It’s a series-deciding game against a fanbase that gets extremely bent out of shape every time they lose to the Orioles, as if it is their birthright to beat up on this franchise. Seeing our prized prospect get onto the ledger against them would be sublime.

There is an off day tomorrow, so there should not be a ton of pressure on Tyler Wells to go deep, but he will want to go at least five innings. He has not made it that point in either of his last two starts. Across his two previous outings against New York this season, the righty has thrown nine total innings and allowed two runs on six hits, two walks, and seven strikeouts.

The Yankees lineup was announced late for this one, and it turns out it’s because they had to make a few roster moves. Joey Gallo is back from the COVID IL, but Giancarlo Stanton is now on the shelf with a calf sprain. Gallo can be an explosive bat, but that is a swap the Orioles will be pleased with. Please do not revisit this sentence if Gallo decides to figure things out in this game.

Let’s take the series, Birds!

Orioles Starting Lineup

1. Cedric Mullins, CF
2. Trey Mancini, 1B
3. Anthony Santander, RF
4. Austin Hays, LF
5. Ryan Mountcastle, DH
6. Adley Rutschman, C
7. Ramón Urías, 3B
8. Rougned Odor, 2B
9. Jorge Mateo, SS

Tyler Wells, RHP (1-3, 4.18 ERA)

Yankees Starting Lineup

1. Aaron Hicks, CF
2. Aaron Judge, RF
3. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
4. Gleyber Torres, 2B
5. Miguel Andújar, LF
6. Joey Gallo, DH
7. Isiah Kiner-Falefa, SS
8. Marwin Gonzalez, 3B
9. Kyle Higashioka, C

JP Sears, LHP (1-0, 0.00 ERA)