Bruce Zimmermann takes the hill as the O’s look to earn their first series win and salvage the homestand.
This has been a weird series. The first game took forever, lasted 11 innings, saw the Orioles walk a million times, and somehow pull out the win. The second game took even longer due to multiple weather delays, Travis Lakins torpedoed everything, and the O’s bats were asleep once agin. In between the two we learned that John Means could be out for the season, but maybe not, although it is definitely going to “be a while.”
It’s up to Bruce Zimmermann to return the Orioles to a state of normalcy. The lefty was terrific in the team’s home opener earlier this week. He tossed four scoreless innings, setting the Birds up for a win. Something similar may be necessary until the offense proves it can score more than twice in a game.
Nestor Cortes takes the bump for the Bombers. He was a Rule 5 pick of the Orioles during the Dan Duquette era. That portion of his career lasted just four games, and he has since bounced from the Yankees to the Mariners and back to the Yankees. In 2021, the southpaw owned a 2.90 ERA over 93 innings. His style is a little different—he does not throw hard and does not strike guys out—but he induces loads of soft contact and keeps the free passes to a minimum. Prepare to be very frustrated.
Orioles’ Starting Lineup
- Austin Hays, LF
- Ryan Mountcastle, 1B
- Trey Mancini, RF
- Anthony Santander, DH
- Ryan McKenna, CF
- Dobinson Chironos, C
- Chris Owings, 2B
- Kelvin Gutiérrez, 3B
- Jorge Mateo, SS
Bruce Zimmermann, LHP
Yankees Starting Lineup
- Aaron Hicks, CF
- Aaron Judge, RF
- Josh Donaldson, 3B
- Giancarlo Stanton, DH
- D.J. Lemahieu, 1B
- Gleyber Toerres, 2B
- Kyle Higashioka, C
- Isiah Kiner-Falefa, SS
- Tim Lancastro, LF
Nestor Cortes, LHP