Baltimore Orioles: Alex Cobb Set For Decimated Yankees Lineup

It’s Opening Day at Camden Yards, Alex Cobb makes his 2019 debut, and the Yankees need players.

Happy Opening Day, again! The Baltimore Orioles have finally made it home to Camden Yards and will kick off their 2019 home slate of games this afternoon against a New York Yankees team limping their way out of the gate.

While the Yankees continue to add players to their injured list, the Baltimore Orioles welcome back Alex Cobb who will make his Opening Day start, just in a slightly different atmosphere than originally planned.

At first, I thought it was some kind of weird April Fools’ Day joke. But then the floodgates opened and players started to drop faster than you could blink for the New York Yankees. Giancarlo Stanton and Miguel Andujar went on the injured list after the Orioles went into New York and stole two early season wins against a team tagged for a deep postseason run.

They join Luis Severino Dellin Betances, Didi Gregorius, Aaron Hicks, and others who found their way on the injured list before the start of the season. You can now add Troy Tulowitzki to the list. Tulo left yesterday’s game against the Tigers with a calf strain.

The Yankees enter this weekend’s series with a 2-4 record, dropping series against the Baltimore Orioles and Detroit Tigers, two franchises not expected to make much noise in 2019. Meanwhile, the Orioles are coming off back-to-back series wins against American League East teams, on the road.

Alex Cobb gets the home opener for the Baltimore Orioles.

Cobb was supposed to take the ball on Opening Day, but a setback in his final spring training tuneup led to a trip to the 10-day injured list and a slight push back to a different Opening Day, a better Opening Day.

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Cobb will toe the rubber in front of the hometown fans at Camden Yards today, looking to rebound from an overall dreadful 2018 season. As I’ve discussed before, Cobb did have a strong stretch in the second half of the season and is in a position to turn things around in 2019.

He was fairly successful against the Yankees last season, giving up three earned runs and striking out 12 in two quality starts. Technically he made a third start but was immediately pulled with a blister issue.

Cobb is still looking for his first win in front of the home crowd after going 0-7 at Camden Yards last year. With an energized fanbase ready to pack OPACY and cheer on a winning ballclub, maybe today is the day.

To make room for Cobb on the active roster, Matt Wotherspoon was optioned back to AAA Norfolk. Wotherspoon made his major league debut yesterday after replacing Pedro Araujo on the 25-man. He gave up three earned runs on four hits in two innings, including a home run off the bat of Randal Grichuk. It was his second home run of the day in a 5-3 Blue Jays win.

First pitch is scheduled for 3:05 pm today. James Paxton will climb the mound for the Yankees. Last time out, Paxton gave up one earned run on four hits in 5.2 innings against the Orioles.