Orioles Game #67 Game Thread: vs. Blue Jays, 7:05

Another day, another couple of Orioles roster moves. If you weren’t paying attention this afternoon, here it is the first of two: Joey Ortiz has been recalled from Norfolk, while third catcher Mark Kolozsvary was optioned back to Norfolk. If you weren’t paying attention to roster moves yesterday, then you missed Kolozsvary entirely. He was selected from Norfolk yesterday and optioned again today. Ortiz is not in tonight’s Orioles starting lineup.

A second move was made a bit later in the afternoon, though not as comically late as the one yesterday. In that move, Austin Voth was placed on the injured list with right elbow discomfort, reliever Reed Garrett had his contract selected from Norfolk, and to make room on the 40-man roster, Kolozsvary was designated for assignment. What was the point of bringing up Kolozsvary yesterday only to DFA him today? I don’t know. It’s weird.

Garrett, a 30-year-old Virginia native, has appeared in 20 games across two MLB seasons previously. Those 20 games between the Tigers and Nationals added up to a 7.66 ERA and 2.351 WHIP. He’s been getting pretty good results for Triple-A Norfolk so far this year, though, with a 1.59 ERA and 1.279 WHIP in 22.2 innings this season.

Good luck to Garrett. Seems like a better bullpen option right now than Voth, anyway. The timing of the elbow discomfort is convenient. And, in fairness, such discomfort would also explain his pitching this season.

And now for tonight’s game against the Blue Jays! The Orioles, winners of five straight, could tie their season-high winning streak with a win tonight. Beating the Blue Jays anywhere is never an easy feat, especially since the Orioles are due to lose one against the Jays. They’re 4-0 so far this season and are unlikely to sweep the season series. If Kyle Bradish can pitch about as well as Dean Kremer did yesterday, the O’s should have a good chance. If he doesn’t, well, then they probably don’t.

Orioles lineup

1. Gunnar Henderson - SS
2. Adley Rutschman - C
3. Anthony Santander - DH
4. Ryan O’Hearn - RF
5. Austin Hays - LF
6. Aaron Hicks - CF
7. Adam Frazier - 2B
8. Josh Lester - 1B
9. Ramón Urías - 3B

A few months ago, if you had been presented with this as a real regular season Orioles lineup, it might have been a sign that the 2023 season had gone somewhere disastrous. O’Hearn and Lester in the same lineup, with O’Hearn as the cleanup hitter? Hicks, a Yankees castoff, in there as well? What must have gone wrong for this?

And to be sure, things have gone wrong. Cedric Mullins’s injury, Ryan Mountcastle’s long slump and now injured list placement, a general weakness of Orioles bench options. But they’re 42-24 and trying to go 19 games above .500 for the first time since 2014 anyway.

Blue Jays lineup

1. George Springer - RF
2. Bo Bichette - SS
3. Daulton Varsho - LF
4. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. - DH
5. Alejandro Kirk - C
6. Matt Chapman - 3B
7. Kevin Kiermaier - CF
8. Whit Merrifield - 2B
9. Cavan Biggio - 1B

This is a lineup that should really be better than the Orioles lineup. I would have said the same thing about yesterday’s lineups, and we know how that turned out. The Jays only avoided it being a complete laugher by getting to face Voth, and then by things going poorly (mostly but not entirely due to bad luck) for Cionel Pérez.

Orioles batters will be facing off against José Berríos tonight after blasting Chris Bassitt last night. Berríos has been pretty good overall this season, coming into the game with a 3.61 ERA. This will be his first time seeing the Orioles this season. Lefties are OPSing .805 against Berríos in 2023. The O’s lineup contains seven players who are either lefty batters or switch hitters who can bat lefty.