Logic behind the lineups

OAKLAND – An opposing right-handed pitcher today will cause Orioles manager Brandon Hyde and his staff to dig through the stats packets and check the splits before posting the lineup. It isn’t as simple as loading up on left-handed hitters.

Hyde sat Colton Cowser and Heston Kjerstad yesterday against Athletics right-hander Luis Medina. Austin Hays played left field, as he did the previous night. But he was matched against left-hander Hogan Harris in the series opener.

Hays doubled twice and singled for his second three-hit game of the season. He singled and doubled yesterday and had a sacrifice fly.

Medina’s splits are pronounced and reversed, with right-handers before yesterday slashing .295/.357/.459 and left-handers slashing .214/.323/.286. Within all of the minuscule sample sizes, Hays was 1-for-1 with a double against him lifetime.

Managers love lineup questions a little less than media members love asking them, but Hyde offered a solid explanation before yesterday’s game.

“I like medical ones better,” he quipped.

“There’s a lot to it. Hays has had a couple at-bats against this guy last year, righties are handling him OK. I also want to reward Haysy a little bit for the patience that he’s shown. I talked about it (Friday) night. I thought he played his butt off, so I wanted to see him go back out there. I wanted to show some confidence in him, honestly. And I thought he earned another start. With a righty going tomorrow, too.”

Mitch Spencer is making his 21^st major league appearance Sunday and 10^th start. Left-handers are batting .274 with a .751 OPS and right-handers are batting .258 with a .696 OPS. The guess here is that Kjerstad returns to the lineup, but there are the usual complications with this roster.

Does Cowser play center and Mullins sits? Does Anthony Santander get a day off? Ryan O’Hearn probably is the designated hitter or first baseman because he always plays against right-handers.

Kjerstad had a pinch-hit single and left-on-left RBI single yesterday after entering the game in the seventh.

“We’re kind of figuring out Cowser and Kjerstad a little bit of kind of what righties they fit the best against, so I put a lot of thought into that,” Hyde said. “Cedric’s our best center fielder, so I want the center field defense as much as possible. Santander’s going to play every single day. I want O’Hearn’s bat in the lineup. So then you kind of just factor, ‘OK, who’s going to be in left?’”

Jordan Westburg probably will be at third or second base. He moved to second yesterday with Ramón Urías at the corner but shifts back to third if Jorge Mateo is in the lineup.

Westburg might have saved Friday night’s game by charging Rooker’s bouncer and making a sweet short-hop pickup and throw. The game felt like it hinged on whether Westburg made the play to prevent the tying run from scoring.

“The Westburg play, that was even more impressive after a rewatched it,” Hyde said.

“Not easy to do as a young play, to move to two spots, and maybe not the fairest thing, honestly, at times. Just a little bit how our roster is right now, because we have a lot of really good players and I want him in the lineup every day, so you’re going to move him around a little bit just to get other people in.

“Third has taken a little while. That’s a big improvement from last year. He works his butt off at third base. I think the middle of the field is a little more natural for him. Third base is different. You have less time, you have choppers and balls that are with topspin on the corner that, if you’re not comfortable, your first instinct is to retreat, and the majority of time what you need to do is come get the ball and play through it. Jordan is kind of learning all of those little intricacies a little bit that Ramón got really good at a couple years ago.

“The work that he’s doing is paying off. He’s a really good player.”

* High-A Aberdeen's Creed Willems was removed from last night's game with a left hamstring injury.

MLB Pipeline ranks Willems as the No. 28 prospect in the system.

The IronBirds trailed 9-3 in the ninth and scored eight runs. Adam Retzbach replaced Willems at first base and hit a grand slam.

Triple-A Norfolk's Connor Norby homered twice and drove in five runs by the fourth inning. Jackson Holliday doubled and walked three times.

Chayce McDermott lasted only one-third of an inning and was charged with four runs and two hits with three walks. Trey McGough tossed 3 1/3 scoreless innings and lowered his ERA to 2.57.