O's look to regroup after series-opening loss as Yankees series continues tonight

One pitcher tonight will be making his third MLB start while the other has made 300. One will be looking for his first major league win while the other has 145. O's rookie Cade Povich pitched 11 1/3 innings his first two starts while the Yankees' Gerrit Cole has 1,859 innings under his belt.

Povich can't even think about winning Cy Young Awards. He just wants to establish his MLB career. Not only has Cole finished in the top five for the Cy Young Award six times, he's been in the top two three times and was the AL Cy Young Winner just last year when he went 15-4 with a 2.63 ERA. Tonight, it's Povich against Cole in Game 2 of this series.

Reverse lock anyone?

The Orioles have gone 21 straight AL East series without losing one. But if they are to keep that streak going, they need to win the next two nights in the Bronx against the defending Cy Young winner in the American League one night and the next beat the pitcher in right-hander Luis Gil, who leads the AL currently in ERA.

Hey, the Orioles won their series at home with Philadelphia after losing the series opener on Friday night.

Yes, but then they had Grayson Rodriguez and Corbin Burnes pitching the second and third games of that series. Now they go with lefties Povich and Cole Irvin.

This is a daunting challenge.

Cole went on the Yankees 60-day injured list March 28 with right elbow inflammation. He made three minor league rehab starts, two with New York's Double-A team and most recently with their Triple-A squad. He built up his pitch counts from 45 to 57 to 70 pitches. Last Friday for Scranton at Rochester he pitched 4 1/3 innings allowing two hits and one unearned run with no walks and 10 strikeouts.

Last year versus the Orioles he had an ERA of 3.75, allowing five earned runs over 12 innings. In 12 career starts versus Baltimore, he is 5-3 with a 2.55 ERA. 

The O's have to regroup in this series after losing 4-2 on Tuesday night in a lackluster game for the Orioles. They fell behind 3-0 after three innings and 4-0 after five and lost it by two runs. They did not score until the ninth inning.

Losing pitcher Albert Suárez had his shortest start of the year, giving up three runs over just 3 2/3 innings and he walked a season-high five, throwing 96 pitches. O's starting pitchers had walked five total in the previous five games before last night.

Suárez had allowed three earned runs in 25 innings over his last nine games leading into last night and matched that earned runs total in one short outing on one night.

The O's last lost an AL East series against the Yankees April 7-9, 2023. They have gone 15-0-6 in 21 series since. They have gone 3-0-1 in their past four series against the Yankees, going 9-5 in those series leading into last night.

The Orioles, now 47-25 overall, 22-11 on the road and 17-7 against division opponents, have fallen 2.5 games out in the AL East.

The O's avoided their third shutout of 2024 when Santander blasted a two-run homer to right in the ninth, a ball he hit 111.2 mph off the bat. In the last four games against the Phillies and Yankees, Santander is 6-for-15 with four homers and eight RBIs.

Santander has hit 18 homers on the year and has hit nine his past 17 games and 11 in his last 24 games.

The passing of Willie Mays: The baseball world today is mourning the passing last night of Hall of Famer Willie Mays. The "Say Hey" kid was 93.

A 24-time All-Star and 12-time Gold Glover, Mays was the 1951 National League Rookie of the Year and won MVP awards in 1954 and 1965. He played for the Giants in New York and later when they moved to San Francisco.

The Giants won the 1954 World Series and in that series, Mays made that remarkable catch over the shoulder in deep center field.

He hit 660 homers and won four home run titles. He also led the league in stolen bases four times. In 1979 he became a first ballot Hall of Famer. 

Mays was known for many things, including his kindness to others and love of the game and enthusiasm he had for the sport and other players. 

The Giants put out this tweet last night which is quite the tribute and voiced by the great Jon Miller.