Orioles pregame notes on Mountcastle, Holliday, Dubin and more

Ryan Mountcastle didn’t play the past two days in Chicago because of a sore finger, but he’s batting leadoff tonight for the first time in his career.

Mountcastle is part of interim manager Tony Mansolino’s right-handed lineup against Yankees lefty Max Fried.

“Just trying to give Jackson (Holliday) a blow for today,” Mansolino said. “Like a lot of guys this time of year, they’re kind of nicked up in a lot of ways. Just felt like he needed to take the day. I think if you’re in the hunt, Jackson’s probably playing today.”

Holliday has reached base in all seven of his career games against the Yankees. David Newhan was the last Oriole to do it in 2004, per STATS. Brian Roberts (14) was the last to reach in at least eight games in a row from 2001-03.

Mansolino wants to give Mountcastle more playing time down the stretch, though Coby Mayo remains the primary first baseman.

“He would have been in the last couple days,” Mansolino said. “He had a finger that was a little nicked up from that ground ball in Chicago, so that’s why he took a couple days. He’s fine, but we just wanted to make sure that his finger was good for these New York games because we knew we were getting left-handed pitching.

“Every day I can get Mounty in the lineup, I would like to.”

The Yankees start southpaw Carlos Rodón on Saturday.

Mansolino chose Mountcastle for the leadoff spot to avoid disrupting Jordan Westburg.

“I wanted to keep Westy second,” he said. “That’s probably one of the big things. I want Westy to have some stability where he’s at. I don’t want him to move around. As you kind of look around, which of these handful of guys do you want Fried to have to face three times? Mounty’s probably at the top of the list for me.”

Reliever Shawn Dubin won’t pitch again this season because of right elbow discomfort, but the results of his MRI were encouraging. He won’t need surgery.

“Came back better than expected,” he said. “Kind of just a lingering issue from what I was dealing with earlier this year. A little frustrating in that sense, but I got it taken care of. Hopefully the next couple weeks everything’s back to normal and can have a productive offseason and come back and prove myself.”

The initial discomfort surfaced in June, and Dubin said the brain “goes crazy” when it returns.

“I think we were playing in Los Angeles at the time,” he said. “I just felt it in the game. And then kind of felt a similar sensation in Toronto last Friday. It wasn’t as severe as it was before. Just kind of recognized the feeling that it was, so just tried to play it smart and not let it turn into anything else.

“It wasn’t as serious as what I initially thought it was going to be, so that’s good news. So just kind of build off it and come back stronger.”

Catcher Adley Rutschman had a rest day this afternoon on his rehab assignment while Triple-A Norfolk was losing to Jacksonville 8-5.

Gary Sánchez singled twice. Scott Blewett allowed a hit and walked a batter in one-third of an inning.

Ryan Noda hit a two-run homer in the ninth and Liván Soto had a three-run shot, but the rally fell short.

For the Yankees

Paul Goldschmidt 1B
Aaron Judge RF
Cody Bellinger LF
Giancarlo Stanton DH
Amed Rosario 2B
Trent Grisham CF
Anthony Volpe SS
José Caballero 3B
Austin Wells C

Max Fried LHP