The vibes in Birdland right now are…not great. It’s only been eight games, but so far the Orioles look discouragingly similar to the flawed, frustrating team of 2025 that was out of contention by Memorial Day. Their starting pitching has underwhelmed and has already lost a key member, likely for the season. Their offense has too often lacked the big hit. Their defense and bullpen have been as bad as feared. It’s not a good combination. Now the O’s are in danger of being swept by the Pirates in their
first road series of the year.
As last year’s Orioles demonstrated, a slow start to the season can easily spiral into something worse, so it would behoove the Birds to turn things around sooner rather than later. Maybe today will be the day. Chris Bassitt takes the mound for his second start as an Oriole after a woeful performance in his debut (4.1 IP, 4 ER, 4 BB, and a throwing error). Bassitt, a veteran leader, could establish some positive momentum for the Orioles if he can deliver a quality performance today. But he’s had his struggles against the Pirates’ big hitters — Brandon Lowe, Bryan Reynolds, and Ryan O’Hearn — each of whom has a .971 or better OPS in at least 17 career PAs versus Bassitt. Lowe has four homers off Bassitt in 20 at-bats.
Meanwhile, some of the Orioles’ key hitters need to get on track. Pete Alonso is 0-for-8 with five strikeouts in this series. Samuel Basallo is OPS’ing .544 for the season. They’ll be batting third and fourth in today’s lineup. Two other struggling Orioles, Colton Cowser and Coby Mayo, have the day off as Craig Albernaz searches for the right mix of hitters. Leody Taveras is back in the lineup and Tyler O’Neill makes his first start in five days. They’ll be facing Pirates righty Braxton Ashcraft, who I definitely will accidentally call “Ashton Braxcraft” at some point. The former second round pick has a 2.74 ERA in 27 games (nine starts) since debuting last year.
The O’s made a roster move before the game, placing scuffling reliever Yaramil Hiraldo on the 15-day IL with right shoulder inflammation. Perhaps the injury explains Hiraldo’s struggles, or maybe it’s just an easy way to rid him from the roster for a while. He’ll be replaced by Cade Povich, who’s up from Triple-A Norfolk. Povich is a candidate to start against the White Sox this week in place of the injured Zack Eflin. I really thought we would get further than two weeks into the 2026 season before we had to watch a Cade Povich start, but I guess that’s a problem for another day.
Let’s go, Orioles. It’s time to look alive.
Orioles lineup:
LF Taylor Ward
SS Gunnar Henderson
1B Pete Alonso
C Samuel Basallo
RF Tyler O’Neill
DH Dylan Beavers
CF Leody Taveras
2B Jeremiah Jackson
3B Coby Mayo
RHP Chris Bassitt
Pirates lineup:
CF Oneil Cruz
2B Brandon Lowe
DH Bryan Reynolds
RF Ryan O’Hearn
3B Nick Yorke
SS Konnor Griffin
1B Spencer Horwitz
C Henry Davis
LF Jake Mangum
RHP Braxton Ashcraft
