No one who is directly involved was interested in there being a baseball game in the cold Chicago night this evening, so here we are for a 3:10 Eastern start time instead of what would have been 7:40. Everyone else must bear the mild inconvenience of a baseball game starting four and a half hours early on about 24 hours notice of this change.
It is Trevor Rogers day for the Orioles. This became something to celebrate last year and hopefully will be still as this season goes along. He’s certainly done
well for himself over the first couple of games he’s pitched this year, and for today will be facing what seems like it should be a pretty easy White Sox lineup to get through. The expectation does not always match the reality, of course, but I think it’s fair to expect he should wreck these guys.
The Orioles batters, meanwhile, face a pitcher in Shane Smith who has a 19.29 ERA after two games started. That’s not a typo. He’s had a nightmare to begin his season, with literally half of the 30 batters he’s faced reaching base safely. Even if he is bad – which he wasn’t last year, when he had a 3.89 ERA – he’s not likely to stay in double-digit ERA territory over the long haul. Still, it would be nice to see the Orioles keeping his woes going for another day before things start to even out for Smith.
There is a new face on the Orioles for today’s game. The team acquired reliever Nick Raquet from the Cardinals last night. The 30-year-old lefty Raquet had been in DFA limbo, but the Orioles chose to trade an actual player, last year’s 13th round pick Brayden Smith, to get him. It’s weird. I don’t know how long he’ll hang around. I hope he does OK when he pitches. Brandon Young was rewarded for his spot start effort last night by being immediately sent down. It’s an unsentimental business. One other aspect of this roster move is that Zach Eflin’s long-term absence was confirmed. He was placed on the 60-day injured list to make room on the 40-man roster.
Orioles lineup
- Taylor Ward – LF
- Gunnar Henderson – DH
- Pete Alonso – 1B
- Samuel Basallo – C
- Dylan Beavers – RF
- Jeremiah Jackson – 2B
- Colton Cowser – CF
- Coby Mayo – 3B
- Blaze Alexander – SS
In terms of performance so far this season, this is a brutal lineup once you get below Alonso. This is bound to change eventually, though that is not guaranteed to happen at all and certainly not guaranteed today. I think that it is Bad that the Orioles have one player (Henderson) with more than one home run to date.
White Sox lineup
- Chase Meidroth – 2B
- Lenyn Sosa – 1B
- Miguel Vargas – DH
- Colton Montgomery – SS
- Edgar Quero – C
- Tanner Murray – 3B
- Andrew Benintendi – LF
- Luisangel Acuña – CF
- Derek Hill – RF
**
It will feel much better if the Orioles win this game and give themselves a chance to sweep tomorrow than it will if they lose this game and need to win tomorrow to avoid another demoralizing series loss.
