The O’s play their 100th game of the season tonight. Hopefully it’s better than most of the first 99.
We’ve reached the 100th game of the Orioles season. Wow, time flies when you’re having…what’s the opposite of fun?
The O’s are coming off an ugly loss, dropping Monday’s opener in Cleveland in a sloppy, poorly pitched affair. So, you know, a typical Orioles game. They’ll try to bounce back tonight behind the struggling Brandon Young. The rookie righty has yet to win a major league game (though he should’ve had one against the Mets if Bryan Baker hadn’t blown a four-run lead in the eighth), and only once has he even worked five innings. He’s facing a Guardians offense that is one of the worst in baseball, so maybe this will be Young’s lucky day.
We’re close enough to the July 31 trade deadline that at any point we could reach “hug watch,” where an O’s veteran gets dealt in the middle of the game and exchanges embraces with his teammates in the dugout. Ryan O’Hearn and Cedric Mullins are the most likely candidates. O’Hearn is not in the lineup against Cleveland lefty Joey Cantillo, but Mullins is, surprisingly batting fifth.
Keep a close eye out. In the meantime, the Orioles might as well go ahead and win this game. Let’s make it happen, guys.
Orioles lineup
2B Jackson Holliday
DH Jordan Westburg
SS Gunnar Henderson
RF Ramón Laureano
CF Cedric Mullins
3B Ramón Urías
LF Colton Cowser
1B Coby Mayo
C Jacob Stallings
RHP Brandon Young
Guardians lineup
LF Steven Kwan
CF Angel Martínez
3B José Ramírez
DH Kyle Manzardo
1B Carlos Santana
RF Nolan Jones
2B Daniel Schneemann
SS Brayan Rocchio
C Bo Naylor
LHP Joey Cantillo