It’s Cole Irvin versus Jack Flaherty as the Orioles kick off their final West Coast trip of the season.
Welcome to the Orioles’ last West Coast series of the season! That means only three more games of watery-eyed, falling-asleep-on-the-couch baseball. Hopefully the Orioles give you something worth watching if you’re bothering to stay up.
Not that this starter matchup exactly fills me with confidence. Cole Irvin was part of the rotation from April to June, but after a 6.00 ERA in June and a 9.00 mark out of the bullpen in July, the Orioles DFA’d him. He made it through waivers, ended back up in Norfolk and was called up against on August 21 when Zach Eflin went down with shoulder inflammation. In one start, Irvin was just fine, giving up two runs in 4.1 innings against the Mets.
The one-time Philly and Athletic has faced a few Dodgers before. Teoscar Hernández is just 1-for-9 off of the lefty. A few others have hit him hard. Shohei is 8-for-27 with two home runs. Freddie Freeman is 2-for-6 and Kike Hernández is 3-for-6.
The Orioles are facing a guy they had on the roster for about half a year last season. Too bad Jack Flaherty couldn’t find this while he was still an Oriole. In nine games with Baltimore, he went 1-3 with a 6.75 ERA, not enough to be trusted down the stretch. Flaherty’s problems were injury- and condition-related, and a return to good health has made a big difference. In 18 starts with the Detroit Tigers this year, he posted a 2.95 ERA and 0.96 WHIP, which made him one of the biggest trade deadline prizes of the year. In four starts with Los Angeles he’s 3-0 with a 3.22 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 22 innings.
The only O’s who have faced Flaherty in more than one start are Emmanuel Rivera, 2-for-5, and Ryan O’Hearn, 1-for-10. Only O’Hearn is in the lineup tonight. Let’s try to improve on that batting line, yeah, guys?
Orioles lineup
1. Colton Cowser LF (L)
2. Adley Rutschman C (S)
3. Gunnar Henderson SS (L)
4. Anthony Santander RF (S)
5. Ryan O’Hearn 1B (L)
6. Eloy Jiménez DH (R)
7. Cedric Mullins CF (L)
8. Jackson Holliday 2B (L)
9. Ramón Urías 3B (R)
Dodgers lineup
1. Shohei Ohtani DH (L)
2. Mookie Betts RF (R)
3. Teoscar Hernández LF (R)
4. W.D. Smith C (R)
5. Tommy Edman C (S)
6. Miguel Rojas SS (R)
7. Max Muncy 3B (L)
8. Kike Hernández 1B (R)
9. Chris Taylor 2B (R)