Cowser on covering left field at Camden Yards, Kemp on his Carroll County connection

With the Pirates starting left-handers in the last two games of their weekend series, this afternoon provides Orioles manager Brandon Hyde with a chance to get Colton Cowser in the lineup for the second time in the young season. Or Cowser could sit on the bench, and his .500 average in eight at-bats, and wait for his next chance to play.

It happened every day or night on the homestand, including Wednesday, when Cowser pinch-hit for Jorge Mateo in the eighth inning, delivered a leadoff single and scored on Gunnar Henderson’s sacrifice fly.

Hyde put Cowser in center field as Mateo’s replacement, a difficult assignment in wet and windy conditions but nothing he can’t handle. He’s already acting like he’s mastered left, and that’s the stiffest test in Camden Yards.

Cowser ran down balls Tuesday night near the line, the wall and the 90-degree angle at the bullpen. Footing was tricky again. The temperature at first pitch was 52 degrees, without the wind chill reading.

Hyde praised Cowser’s improved defense in spring training and again after Opening Day. How much more confident he seemed, his value in being able to back up at all three spots.

“I think it’s just the experience of last year,” Cowser said. “Not trying to make a mistake out there can cause mistakes, whether that’s just being a little timid on some balls you can probably catch … I think just overall probably the experience and just understanding what I need to do out there.”

Cowser won’t find the same sharp angle in left-center at PNC Park if he’s in the outfield, but Baltimore has prepared him for anything.

“It’s definitely difficult,” he said. “I was excited to be out there. I think last year I was a little timid on defense, and this year I’m just a little bit more comfortable in the stadium. Just felt more comfortable out there.”

The Orioles pushed back the wall about 30 feet before the 2022 season and also raised it about five feet to combat the number of cheap home runs and give their pitchers a fighting chance. The hitters would just have to understand.

The players tasked with catching fly balls would have to cover a lot more ground.

“Probably just the amount of space out there,” Cowser replied when asked about the biggest challenge. “There’s some balls that probably would be out at a couple other stadiums or all the stadiums. Ask (Ryan Mountcastle), or even (Hunter) Renfroe. When I was running in, he looked at me and was like, dang, I got that. But I just think understanding that you have a lot more space to work out there and you can keep your head down and keep running.”

Austin Hays was a Gold Glove finalist last year, and he makes a convenient sounding board when the topic is a wall.

“Yeah, we’ve talked a lot, and also (Anthony) Sanders, our outfield coach,” Cowser said. “(Hays) just says, ‘Don’t give up on anything out there. You’re probably going to have a chance to make a play. Just continue to work and understand your surrounding space.’”

* When the Orioles signed Tony Kemp to round out their Opening Day roster, they probably didn’t know about the local connection.

Kemp was born in Franklin, Tenn. on Halloween 1991, but his family moved to Sykesville in Carroll County when he was 3-years-old. His father Rick worked as a territory manager for Caterpillar Financial Services Corporation in Nashville and was transferred to Baltimore.

(Roch note: I lived in Eldersburg and Sykesville for about 23 years and my daughter stayed in the area, so the Carroll County ties grabbed my attention during the media’s first Kemp interview.)

Kemp lasted about two years in Sykesville before moving back to Tennessee with brother Corey, who’s six years older, and sister Ashley, who’s nine years older.

“My dad had heard that they had good schools out there,” Kemp said. “Obviously, my brother and sister were going to be in the school system. I wasn’t quite into the school system yet, but that’s how we got relocated from Franklin. Right after my dad worked for two years or so, they wanted him back at the Nashville location, so we shipped right back to Franklin.

“My first memories actually are at that age where it’s starting to kick in, and I remember going to my brother’s baseball games in Sykesville. We used to have like a pond down the street in our neighborhood, where my brother got attacked by a bunch of bees. Funny story. But honestly in that back yard is where I learned how to hit. That was my first memory was, you stepped on the little ball and it pops up. That was my first memories in my back yard.

"My brother thought I was right-handed and he finally turned me around to left-handed and I started hitting the ball pretty good.”