Lineups for the series opener with Boston (updated)

The Orioles have made it home after their 4-3 road trip to St. Louis and Chicago and now they begin a stretch of four straight series versus American League East opponents.

The Orioles (33-18), two games out in the division behind New York, host Boston (27-26), a club that is in third place but is nine games out. Today these teams start a three-game series and run of 14 games for the Orioles against Boston, Tampa Bay, Toronto and Tampa Bay.

After scoring just eight runs on 14 hits in three losses at St. Louis, the O's got more productive offense during the four-game sweep at Chicago. They scored 23 runs on 35 hits with eight doubles and eight homers in that series. They went 7-for-25 with runners in scoring position in winning the games by two, two, two and three runs.

Boston won Sunday to avoid being swept at home by Milwaukee. With that 2-1 win, Boston is an major league-best 9-0 on Sundays, by a combined 58-20 score. 

The Orioles swept Boston April 9-11 at Fenway Park, winning by 7-1, 7-5 and 9-4 scores. Baltimore is 39-22 (.639) in the AL East since the start of last year.

Lefty Cole Irvin (4-2, 3.15 ERA) gets the start today, his eighth of the year. The Orioles are 6-1 in the previous seven. And, over his past four starts between April 21 and May 10, he is 4-0 with an ERA of 0.70.

Right-hander Cooper Criswell (2-1, 2.86 ERA) gets the start for Boston. Over eight games he has thrown 34 2/3 innings, allowing 31 hits with eight walks, while recording 34 strikeouts and 1.125 WHIP.  He has allowed two earned runs or fewer in six of his seven starts.

For the Orioles
SS Gunnar Henderson
C Adley Rutschman
DH Ryan O'Hearn
1B Ryan Mountcastle
LF Colton Cowser
3B Jordan Westburg
RF Kyle Stowers
CF Cedric Mullins
2B Jorge Mateo

LHP Cole Irvin

For the Red Sox

LF Jarren Duran
RF Rob Refsnyder
C Connor Wong
3B Rafael Devers
DH Garrett Cooper
SS Romy Gonzalez
2B Vaughn Grissom
1B Dominic Smith
CF Ceddanne Rafaela

RHP Cooper Criswell

Hyde's pregame press conference: O's skipper Brandon Hyde was asked about the newest O's pitcher, who was added to the roster today. Right-hander Thyago Vieira had a 5.64 ERA in 16 games with Milwaukee.

"Don't know a ton about him. But we've seen him a couple of times with Milwaukee," Hyde said. "Huge arm. We are always looking for stuff guys in our bullpen, and he has that. So, let's see what we've got."

Vieira is one of just five players born in Brazil to play in the major leagues and will be the first Brazilian to play for the Orioles.

Hyde talked further today about Kyle Bradish's seven no-hit innings Sunday in Chicago.

"Kyle's got the ability to do that a lot," the manager said. "He has incredible, some of the best top-of-the-rotation stuff in the game. That was completely dominating yesterday. Just rewatching some of that this morning, the two-seamer development has just added a total different element for him. How firm it is and how tough it is to hit, and with the cutting fastball to go with it and the breaking ball, he's got a chance to do stuff like that every time out.

"Hope we can feed off that and guys try to outdo. But that is going to be tough to do. That was incredible yesterday."

Hyde had some props this morning for Jorge Mateo, who continues to be solid at second base for the Orioles.

"He's done something almost every single game to help us win," Hyde said. "Literally, he does something almost every single time he gets a start to help us win. Whether it's defensively or a big at-bat or the ability to get on base. He gets on base, he scores almost every single time. He just impacts the game and the defense is spectacular, and the range. He saved two runs in Chicago that wasn't talked about just because of the range factor, and arm strength at second base is not normal either. He's doing everything with a ton of confidence right now."