Yesterday’s postponement forces the Orioles into another doubleheader today, with Charlie Morton starting Game 1 against the Mets and Tomoyuki Sugano starting Game 2.
Morton has allowed 14 runs in his last 10 appearances over 45 2/3 innings for a 2.76 ERA. He’s 7-7 with a 3.85 ERA in 25 career games (24 starts) against the Mets.
Gunnar Henderson is on the bench for Game 1, with Luis Vázquez starting at shortstop. Coby Mayo is the first baseman. Jacob Stallings is catching.
Left-hander Grant Wolfram is the 27th man for the doubleheader.
Here’s what I wrote yesterday about Mets left-hander David Peterson prior to the postponement:
Peterson has made 17 starts and posted a 3.18 ERA in 102 innings. He’s allowed only seven home runs.
Peterson tossed a complete-game shutout last month in D.C. He’s registered 10 quality starts.
Left-handers are hitting .205/.255/.284 against Peterson this season and right-handers are hitting .253/.333/.370. He’s 5-0 with a 2.11 ERA and 1.157 WHIP in nine home starts and 1-4 with a 4.44 ERA and 1.414 WHIP in eight road games.
Peterson has faced the Orioles four times in his career, including three starts, and posted a 3.24 ERA and 1.440 WHIP in 16 2/3 innings. He’s allowed four runs in 9 2/3 innings at Camden Yards.
Ramón Urías, who’s playing third base in Game 1, is 2-for-4 with a double and home run against Peterson. Cedric Mullins is 2-for-4 with a double, but he’s on the bench.
For the Orioles
Jackson Holliday 2B
Jordan Westburg DH
Ramón Laureano LF
Tyler O’Neill RF
Ramón Urías 3B
Colton Cowser CF
Luis Vázquez SS
Coby Mayo 1B
Jacob Stallings C
Charlie Morton RHP
Orioles owner David Rubenstein, in a taped interview at the National Press Club that aired late last night on C-SPAN, expressed optimism for the second half of the season. Nothing less was expected from him.
“I leave the baseball to the baseball professionals,” Rubenstein said. “My job is to be the owner. It’s to help ticket sales, commercial things, take the blame when something goes wrong. But in the end, you’ve got professional baseball players, managers, general managers, and they know what they’re doing. Baseball is a game of some injuries and so forth, but we have a very good team. We have good players. We won three games in a row against the Atlanta Braves the other day. … I think we have a reasonably good chance in the second half of doing much, much better.”
Rubenstein didn’t address manager Brandon Hyde’s firing.