masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgPedro Severino is on the bench this afternoon after being hit last night on the left wrist by a pitch from Nationals reliever Ryne Harper.
Manager Brandon Hyde intended to start Severino until checking on him this morning.
“Sevie’s wrist is sore, his hand, from being hit last night, so he was going to play today, but I talked to him this morning and he’s pretty sore from getting hit last night,” Hyde said today in his Zoom conference call with the media.
Bryan Holaday gets his first start…

Pedro Severino is on the bench this afternoon after being hit last night on the left wrist by a pitch from Nationals reliever Ryne Harper.

Manager Brandon Hyde intended to start Severino until checking on him this morning.

Severino-Leaves-Game-After-Tip-Off-Mask-Gray-Sidebar.jpg“Sevie’s wrist is sore, his hand, from being hit last night, so he was going to play today, but I talked to him this morning and he’s pretty sore from getting hit last night,” Hyde said today in his Zoom conference call with the media.

Bryan Holaday gets his first start behind the plate and Chance Sisco is the designated hitter – an indication that Severino is available and Hyde has no concerns about putting two catchers in the lineup.

Severino was struck in the ninth, one inning after he followed Pat Valaika’s pinch-hit home run off Sean Doolittle with a shot of his own to left field. Anthony Santander delivered a three-run shot off Daniel Hudson after Austin Hays’ 11-pitch walk and Hanser Alberto’s single past shortstop Trea Turner.

Hyde planned on sitting José Iglesias and Chris Davis today. It’s done by design.

“I’m just giving C.D. a breather,” Hyde said. “Iggy, giving him an off-day before an off-day with that quad. Just wanted to give him a couple days to rest the leg. Both available off the bench.”

Alex Cobb and Wade LeBlanc are starting the first two games of the series in Philadelphia that begins Tuesday night. The Wednesday starter is TBD.

The Orioles enter today’s game leading the league with a .475 average on 0-0 counts. An aggressive approach that doesn’t try to prevent hitters from also being patient.

An interesting balancing act.

“I encourage guys to be aggressive swinging in the strike zone,” Hyde said. “I think we can be over-aggressive at times. We don’t have a roster full of high-walk guys. We have a lot of aggressive swingers. I thought it didn’t work out with Miami. That was to our detriment in the Miami series, where I thought we made a lot of early outs. Pitcher’s pitches that we didn’t square up.

“It’s a little bit of the team we have is guys that are aggressive early in the count. I like to get a little bit better strike zone judgement, managing the strike zone a little bit better early, only swing at pitches that they can drive early in the count. But that’s a little bit of a work in progress right now.

“When we do swing the bat early with balls in the strike zone, we usually hit the ball hard somewhere. So I’m all for swinging early when it’s a strike.”

The Orioles last series sweep of the Nationals came on May 8-9, 2017 when they took two games at Camden Yards. Their last three-game series sweep of the Nationals occurred on Sept. 22-24, 2015 in D.C.