Orioles and Blue Jays lineups

The Orioles must rebound quickly from last night’s 6-3 loss in Toronto, which kept them 4 ½ games behind the Rays for the last wild card, but six behind the Blue Jays.

Gunnar Henderson, who hit a home run last night with two outs in the ninth inning, is starting at shortstop. Terrin Vavra is in left field, his first appearance in the lineup since Sept. 1.

Kyle Stowers is the designated hitter, and Anthony Santander is in right field.

Adley Rutschman is catching again. Rutschman hit his first home run last night from the right side of the plate. He was hitting .158 with a .513 OPS against lefties.

Rutschman and Henderson are the youngest pair of Orioles teammates to homer in the same game since Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop on May 8, 2016 versus Oakland.

The Orioles, who have lost seven of their last 11 games, are sending rookie Kyle Bradish to the mound. He’s allowed one run or fewer in three of his last four starts, completing seven innings in all three.

The exception was a Sept. 6 start against the Blue Jays at Camden Yards, when he allowed three runs and six hits in three innings and threw 66 pitches.

Bradish made back-to-back starts against Toronto in August and surrendered six runs and 11 hits in 10 innings. The faced the Blue Jays in June in Toronto and allowed five runs and nine hits in 4 1/3.

The totals for four starts: 14 runs and 26 hits with nine walks and 15 strikeouts in 17 1/3 innings.

Bo Bichette is 4-for-9 with two homers against Bradish. George Springer is 4-for-8 with three doubles, Alejandro Kirk is 5-for-7, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is 4-for-10 with a home run.

José Berríos has made 28 starts and gone 10-5 with a 5.07 ERA and 1.376 WHIP. He’s surrendered 28 home runs in 152 2/3 innings, tied for most in the American League.

Berríos has allowed three runs in 12 1/3 innings in two starts this month. He held the Orioles to two runs in six innings in Game 2 of a Sept. 5 doubleheader in Baltimore.

Berríos faced the Orioles in June at Rogers Centre and allowed three runs and three hits with eight strikeouts in seven innings. Rutschman hit his first major league home run, and Ryan Mountcastle also homered.

Matt Chapman homered twice last night. He’s hit five against the Orioles in 12 games this season.  

The teams have split 14 games this season. The Orioles lose the tiebreaker with the Rays and Mariners.

The Blue Jays will try to win their sixth series in a row.

For the Orioles
Cedric Mullins CF
Adley Rutschman C
Anthony Santander RF
Ryan Mountcastle 1B
Gunnar Henderson SS
Terrin Vavra LF
Rougned Odor 2B
Ramón Urías 3B
Kyle Stowers DH

Kyle Bradish RHP

For the Blue Jays
George Springer CF
Vladimir Guerrero DH
Bo Bichette SS
Matt Chapman 3B
Teoscar Hernández RF
Raimel Tapia LF
Danny Jansen C
Cavan Biggio 1B
Santiago Espinal 2B

José Berríos RHP

High-A Aberdeen advanced to the South Atlantic League Championship Series last night and plays Bowling Green in a best-of-three series beginning on Sunday. The IronBirds host Game 2 on Tuesday and Game 3 on Wednesday night, if necessary.