Povich joining Orioles in Toronto

The Orioles haven’t confirmed their starter for Thursday afternoon’s series finale against the Blue Jays. However, one of their top prospects is in the running.

He won’t be far from them.

Left-hander Cade Povich is headed to Toronto and will be placed on the taxi squad later today, according to a source, perhaps setting up his major league debut.

Povich was scheduled to start for Triple-A Norfolk on Thursday at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Now he’s an option for the Orioles, who are undecided about Kyle Bradish’s status.

Bradish would be working on his normal turn Thursday, but manager Brandon Hyde told the assembled media yesterday that the club might push him back. If so, Bradish would open the four-game series against the Rays on Friday night in St. Petersburg, Fla. or pitch the following day.

"We are considering giving him an extra day or two just kind of from how he's feeling," Hyde said. "We're monitoring him daily and keeping everything TBA right now."

Bradish, who began the season on the injured list with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, has made six starts and posted a 3.18 ERA and 1.306 WHIP with 40 strikeouts in 28 1/3 innings. His ERA was 1.75 before he allowed five runs in 2 2/3 innings against the Rays, walking the last three batters.

A six-man rotation is in the works with only one off-day this month, but the plan is complicated by elbow surgeries that put John Means and Tyler Wells on the injured list for the remainder of the season. Means underwent his second Tommy John procedure on Monday.

MLB Pipeline ranks Povich, 24, as the organization’s No. 9 prospect. He’s 5-1 with a 3.18 ERA and 1.112 WHIP in 11 starts and is averaging 3.3 walks and 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings.

Povich struggled in his last outing, surrendering six runs in three innings against Gwinnett, but he had back-to-back quality starts leading into that game and allowed three runs with 40 strikeouts in 26 1/3 innings in April. He held Nashville to one run in six innings in his first May start.

The Orioles acquired Povich, reliever Yennier Cano and minor league pitchers Juan Nuñez and Juan Rojas from the Twins for reliever Jorge López at the 2022 trade deadline. Cano was an All-Star last summer.

Povich could be the second Oriole to make his debut in the Blue Jays series. Connor Norby has started twice at second base and he homered last night for his first major league hit.

It wasn’t until yesterday afternoon that the Hyde confirmed Albert Suárez as tonight’s starter.

Suárez has posted a 1.57 ERA and 0.990 WHIP in 12 games, including five starts. He’s allowed one run in nine innings since rejoining the rotation.

Suárez made two relief appearances against Toronto in 2016 and tossed three scoreless innings. He’s never pitched at Rogers Centre.