Adley Rutschman batted leadoff 41 times in 2023, twice in 2024 and on April 18 last season.

He’s risen to the top this afternoon to close out the series against the Cubs.

Manager Craig Albernaz made another change to his lineup. He used Taylor Ward, Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson in the top three on Tuesday, Henderson, Ruschman and Ward on Wednesday, and Rutschman, Ward and Henderson today.

The Cubs started left-handers in the first and third games.

So why Rutschman today? Having him serve as designated hitter, as he did on April 18, 2025, is one reason.

“He doesn’t have to scramble to take his gear off and go,” Albernaz said.

“It’s just something that we’ve been thinking about against lefties, and the perfect storm of his DH day and see what it looks like.”

Jackson Holliday tied his career high with four hits last night, but he’s on the bench today against David Peterson. Blaze Alexander is playing second base and Coby Mayo is at third to take advantage of his .294/.377/.721 line this season against left-handers.

“Jackson, it was a great day yesterday, he looks great at the plate,” Albernaz said. “We had this date earmarked as a possible off-day for him. And then also, it allows Blaze to stay in the lineup, Coby Mayo and others. So it’s one of those things where optimizing the best matchup against the starting pitcher and also riding with the guys who have been hitting lefties well.”

Alexander is hitting everyone but he’s eighth in the order again today. He hasn’t batted higher than sixth this season, and only in two games.

“Him hitting the bottom of the order lengthens the lineup to kind of get it turned around to the top,” Albernaz said. “He seems pretty comfortable where he’s at hitting.”

Albernaz added that it’s possible that Alexander could move up later.

“It all depends on how everything shakes up,” he said.

Trevor Rogers makes his 17th start today and his 11th with Samuel Basallo behind the plate. He’s posted a 3.14 ERA with Basallo, a 6.75 ERA in two games with Sam Huff and an 8.82 ERA in four games with Rutschman.

Albernaz noticed in camp how Rogers responded to Basallo and vice-versa.

“Kind of their cadence and how they navigate the game,” Albernaz said. “It’s been cool to see, honestly. I don’t like having personal catchers for pitchers, but the way Sammy gets the most out of Trevor and the way Trevor gets the most out of Sammy, it’s fun to watch.

“It’s one of those things where, sometimes you have to go against what you don’t usually like for the sake of the performance of the pitcher and the team. And it’s one of those things where, there’s a lot of trust back and forth, and both of them can have real candid conversations about what they’re seeing, and the trusting is a real relationship piece when it comes to that pitcher-catcher relationship.”

Albernaz doesn’t want to become dependent on a specific pairing because baseball doesn’t always allow for it, whether due to injuries, the schedule or how the rotation lines up.

“Ideally you want all of our pitchers to be extremely comfortable throwing to any catcher,” Albernaz said. “Trevor is comfortable throwing with Adley, but just the way we see it as a staff, the way the dynamic between Trevor and Sammy work, we want to go with that.”

The Orioles don’t have an update on closer Ryan Helsley and reliever Keegan Akin in their pursuit of a second opinion on their injured elbows.

“Being around July 4, people that don’t work in baseball use their vacation days and have a good time,” Albernaz said. “Usually doctors, they’re not hurting for their next meal, so they usually take a nice vacation.”

Here are the starters for the series against the Royals at Camden Yards:

Friday: RHP Brandon Young (7-2, 3.38 ERA) vs. RHP Luinder Avila (4-3, 5.05 ERA)
Saturday: RHP Kyle Bradish (5-9, 3.75 ERA) vs. LHP Noah Cameron (5-6, 4.77 ERA)
Sunday: RHP Shane Baz (4-9, 4.21) ERA) vs. RHP Seth Lugo (3-6, 4.56 ERA)

For the Cubs
Pete Crow-Armstrong CF
Alex Bregman 3B
Seiya Suzuki RF
Carson Kelly DH
Michael Busch 1B
Nico Hoerner 2B
Ian Happ LF
Dansby Swanson SS
Miguel Amaya C

David Peterson LHP