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

It’s Wednesday night and the Orioles really need to win. At best, they can split this four-game series with the Yankees, starting with a win tonight. At worst, they lose the next two, are swept for the first time this year, and the two teams are in a virtual tie for second place.

The Orioles offense has needed a jolt of late, and Mike Elias is trying to give it to them courtesy of the number 14 prospect in baseball, Colton Cowser. He will make his major league debut tonight, batting seventh. No pressure, kid! Go out there in Yankee Stadium and help this team turn its offense around. He is a lefty batter, which is nice for this particular ballpark.

Cowser joins several fellow former highly-ranked Orioles’ prospects in the lineup. They are: Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman, and Jordan Westburg. I have imagined those fellas in a lineup together before. It’s exciting! Get Joey Ortiz in there and Grayson Rodriguez on the mound in the near future and it’ll truly be a youngsters’ party.

Pitching for the Yankees tonight is Randy Vasquez, who has made two other spot starts this year for the Orioles. He’s had good results with one outing of 2 runs in 4.2 innings and 0 runs in 5.2 innings, but his numbers at Triple-A are quite a bit worse. Let’s hope two major league starts has generated enough info that the Orioles can inflate that 1.74 ERA.

Dean Kremer was horrendous in his last start against the Twins. If I were his coach I would simply instruct him to get himself together already. Hopefully, that would work. I’d like to see Dean get that ERA back under five tonight. Is that too much to ask? We’ll see.

Orioles lineup

1. Gunnar Henderson (L) SS

2. Adley Rutschman (S) C

3. Anthony Santander (S) RF

4. Ryan O’Hearn (L) 1B

5. Cedric Mullins (L) CF

6. Aaron Hicks (S) DH

7. Colton Cowser (L) LF

8. Jordan Westburg (R) 3B

9. Adam Frazier (L) 2B

SP: Dean Kremer - RHP

Yankees lineup

1. Anthony Rizzo (L) 1B

2. Gleyber Torres (R) DH

3. Giancarlo Stanton (R) RF

4. Jake Bauers (L) LF

5. Josh Donaldson (R) 3B

6. DJ LeMahieu (R) 2B

7. Isiah Kiner-Falefa (R) CF

8. Anthony Volpe (R) SS

9. Kyle Higashioka (R) C

SP: Randy Vásquez - RHP

Let’s go O’s!