Bradish starting Tuesday at Bowie, Hays in lineup, Cowser named AL Player of Week, and other notes

Orioles right-hander Kyle Bradish begins his injury rehab assignment Tuesday night at Double-A Bowie. The Baysox are playing the Altoona Curve, a Pirates affiliate, with first pitch scheduled for 6:05 p.m.

Bradish was supposed to debut last Thursday at High-A Aberdeen, but he threw live batting practice due to the inclement weather. He had a bullpen session Saturday at Camden Yards and keeps reporting positive progress.

The Bowie start will be Bradish’s first since Game 1 of the Division Series against the Rangers. He was diagnosed in January with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow and received a platelet-rich plasma injection.

The Orioles want to get multiple innings out of Bradish.

“I think we’re hoping somewhere between two and three innings, in between 40-50 pitches would be ideal,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “See how he feels after every inning, but that would be best-case scenario.”

Jackson Holliday stays in the lineup tonight after collecting his first major league hit yesterday with a single in the seventh inning. He scored the go-ahead run in a 6-4 win over the Brewers.

The first hit can be the hardest, “especially in his case where everybody’s watching and everybody’s paying attention, more eyes than normal on him and a ton of pressure,” Hyde said.

“You can hear people pulling for him from the stands. The Apple TV game, there’s a camera in his face the entire game. It’s tough to play that way. Hopefully, he can look up there and see that he’s got one hit and it propels him to more. But I think whenever you’re sitting on a zero it’s not easy, no matter who you are, but especially in his situation.”

Hyde put Austin Hays in tonight’s lineup against Twins right-hander Louie Varland. Anthony Santander is getting some rest.

Hays is 3-for-35, though he’s made more solid contact in recent at-bats.

“That’s challenging and you never want to see a guy go through a slow start. And really, for me, that’s what it is with Austin a little bit. It’s just a little bit of a slow start after an interrupted spring training," Hyde said.

"I want to believe he’s going to get it going. I’m going to try to find ways to try to get him going. It’s not easy because Colton (Cowser) has done what he’s done so far and Ced (Mullins) is one of the best center fielders in the game and Santander’s a 30 home run guy in right.

“I’m trying to find ways to get Austin going for us and he’s still a huge part of this team.”

Cowser was named the American League's Player of the Week today after batting .435 (10-for-23) with four doubles, four home runs, 12 RBIs, three walks, six runs scored, two stolen bases and a 1.611 OPS.

The Texas native led the majors in RBIs, slugging (1.130), OPS, extra-base hits and total bases (26), and tied for the lead in homers.

The Sept. 2 game against the White Sox at Camden Yards has been moved from 1:05 p.m. to 3:05 p.m.

Aberdeen catcher/first baseman Creed Willems was named South Atlantic League Player of the Week. Right-hander Cameron Weston was Pitcher of the Week.

Willems slashed .353/.353/.882 (6-for-17) with three home runs, seven RBIs and four runs scored. Weston worked five scoreless and hitless innings and struck out nine in a start against Wilmington.

For the Twins

Manuel Margot RF
Ryan Jeffers C
Byron Buxton CF
Kyle Farmer SS
Jose Miranda 3B
Carlos Santana 1B
Christian Vázquez DH
Austin Martin LF
Edouard Julien 2B

Louie Varland RHP

Grayson Rodriguez opposes right-hander Chris Paddack on Tuesday night, and Tyler Wells opposes right-hander Pablo López on Wednesday afternoon.