The Orioles are one win in San Diego away from pulling off their unlikeliest three-game sweep of the season. But winning this game would be the unlikeliest of them all, considering their starting lineup.
Gunnar Henderson is on the bench against Padres southpaw Nestor Cortes Jr. So too are Samuel Basallo and Dylan Beavers, whose playing time the Orioles are managing carefully to keep them under the 130-at-bat threshold to retain their rookie eligibility for 2026.
That leaves the Orioles with a starting
offense that looks, um, threadbare. They’re rocking a 3-7 in the order of Ryan Mountcastle, Emmanuel Rivera, Dylan Carlson, Colton Cowser, and Coby Mayo, who have ranged from sub-par to horrible hitters this year (though Rivera and Cowser were productive last night). Usual bench guys Alex Jackson and Luis Vázquez round out the lineup behind them. Cortes, the longtime Yankee, has had plenty of success against the Orioles in his career — a 5-1 record and 2.20 ERA in 11 games (nine starts) — and some of that came against better lineups than this one. Don’t be surprised if he continues his dominance.
Then again, there have been plenty of surprises in this series already. I didn’t expect the Orioles to beat both Dylan Cease and Yu Darvish with two guys who just returned from more than a year on the IL, but Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells both fared decently and led the O’s to hard-fought wins. This afternoon Cade Povich will try to follow in their footsteps against a Padres lineup that includes two of his recent teammates, Ramón Laureano and Ryan O’Hearn.
Can the O’s do the unthinkable and sweep the playoff-bound Padres in San Diego? And if so, will the Pads ever recover from the embarrassment? Let’s find out together.
Orioles lineup:
2B Jackson Holliday
RF Jeremiah Jackson
DH Ryan Mountcastle
3B Emmanuel Rivera
LF Dylan Carlson
CF Colton Cowser
1B Coby Mayo
C Alex Jackson
SS Luis Vázquez
LHP Cade Povich
Padres lineup:
RF Fernando Tatis Jr.
1B Luis Arraez
3B Manny Machado
DH Ryan O’Hearn
LF Ramón Laureano
CF Jackson Merrill
2B Jake Cronenworth
SS Jose Iglesias
C Elias Díaz
LHP Nestor Cortes Jr.
