Rodriguez returns to the hill for his third big league start, and Urías is on the bench as he continues recovering from being hit in the head with a pitch yesterday,
It would have been nice to enter this Sunday with the chance at a sweep still on the table. The Orioles certainly had their chance to make that a reality before blowing four different leads on Saturday. But ultimately it wasn’t too be. Kyle Gibson was left in a bit too long, Danny Coulombe is no longer perfect, and Logan Gillaspie had a tough 10th inning. It happens.
That unraveling does make today’s rubber match a bit more difficult. Dylan Cease starts for the White Sox, and he looks like a Cy Young candidate once again. But he also throws a lot of pitches and is yet to go deep in any of this three starts, so hope for a series win is alive.
Grayson Rodriguez takes the hill for the O’s. Any pressure he may have had around retaining his roster spot is likely gone with the demotion of Cole Irvin earlier this week. But the rookie does need to bounce back from a so-so start against Oakland in his most recent outing. His stuff looked great! It was his control that needed work. That may be helped by his opponent as the White Sox are one of the league’s more aggressive lineups so far this year.
Another storyline worth following is the status of Ramón Urías. He was struck in the head by a fastball on Saturday and removed from the game as part of MLB’s concussion protocol. As of this morning, he remains on the active roster but still in that protocol and not in the starting lineup. Brandon Hyde was quite late with sending in his lineup for today’s game, so clearly there is some uncertainty. There is still a chance that Urías heads to the seven-day IL. The Orioles removed infield prospect Joey Ortiz from Norfolk’s lineup late on Saturday as a precaution, and it sounds like he will be the addition if Urías does need time to recover.
There is a chance of precipitation in Chicago for most of the day, and temperatures will only dip as the minutes tick by. However, the White Sox don’t need to do anywhere as they have a home series against the Phillies starting tomorrow, and the Orioles are off before a midway set in D.C. starting Tuesday. That may create more leeway than normal for a Sunday game to get done if the weather does not cooperate right at first pitch time.
Orioles Starting Lineup
- Cedric Mullins, CF
- Adley Rutschman, C
- Ryan Mountcastle, 1B
- Anthony Santander, DH
- Adam Frazier, 2B
- Austin Hays, LF
- Gunnar Henderson, 3B
- Jorge Mateo, SS
- Terrin Vavra, RF
Grayson Rodriguez, RHP (0-0, 6.75 ERA in 2022)
White Sox Starting Lineup
- Luis Robert Jr., CF
- Andrew Vaughn, 1B
- Gavin Sheets, LF
- Eloy Jiménez, DH
- Jake Burger, 3B
- Oscar Colás, RF
- Seby Zavala, C
- Lenyn Sosa, 2B
- Elvis Andrus, SS
Dylan Cease, RHP (2-0, 1.65 ERA)