Sunday afternoon Orioles game thread: at Red Sox, 1:35

How is it possible the Orioles have played only two games? There’s already been enough chaos to last an entire season.

Offensively, the O’s look like world beaters. They’ve scored 18 runs. They’ve cranked five homers. And they’ve turned the basepaths into a track meet, becoming the first team in modern major league history to steal 10 bases in their first two games.

And yet, no matter how many runs they score, it never seems like enough. The Orioles’ pitching has been as bad as the team’s biggest skeptics feared. And their defense, a strength of the team last year, has been worse than anyone could have anticipated, with nearly every outfielder committing multiple egregious misplays to spark multi-run Red Sox rallies.

The O’s built a six-run lead in both the first and second games of the season, only to have to sweat out the endings. In the first one, they narrowly averted total disaster. In their second, they weren’t so lucky, suffering one of the most brutal losses in recent Orioles memory.

It’s hard to understate what a debacle of a defeat that was. That’s the kind of loss where, if this season doesn’t go as planned, we’ll look back at the end of the year and say, “That second game is where it all went wrong.”

Or, in a more pleasant alternative, the O’s can make last night’s loss a mere footnote, flush it away, and take the series today to get back on the winning track. Lefty Cole Irvin will be making his club debut this afternoon, hoping to become the first starting pitcher in this series — for either team — to get an out past the fifth inning. The Orioles’ bullpen, which had to throw six innings yesterday, would surely appreciate some rest.

Orioles lineup:

CF Cedric Mullins
C Adley Rutschman
DH Anthony Santander
1B Ryan Mountcastle
SS Gunnar Henderson
LF Terrin Vavra
RF Austin Hays
2B Adam Frazier
3B Ramón Urías

LHP Cole Irvin

Jorge Mateo, who suffered cuts on his finger after a slide in yesterday’s game, is getting a day off. Ramón Urías, who batted leadoff yesterday and struck out in all five at-bats, has been demoted to ninth. And if you thought the Orioles’ usage of Kyle Stowers would make any more sense this year than it did last season, it appears that won’t be the case. He has yet to start a game, and even the converted infielder Vavra is starting ahead of him in left field today. Stowers and backup catcher Anthony Bemboom are the only O’s hitters yet to make an appearance this season. #freekylestowers

Red Sox lineup:

LF Rob Refsnyder
3B Rafael Devers
1B Justin Turner
DH Masataka Yoshida
CF Adam Duvall
RF Alex Verdugo
2B Christian Arroyo
SS Enrique Hernandez
C Connor Wong

RHP Tanner Houck

The Red Sox, facing a lefty for the first time, are resting lefty-swinging first baseman Triston Casas and catcher Reese McGuire, replaced by Refsnyder and Wong. Houck, their pitcher, is making his first start since May 8 of last year after working mainly in the bullpen last season.