Blaze Alexander was set to head to the hot corner for the Orioles on Father’s Day, a lineup choice that put him at third base as Baltimore opened against the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Brandon Young was scheduled to start, and the game began at 4:10 with the Orioles trying to turn the day into a clean series push.
Young came in with a 5-2 record and a 3.18 ERA, a solid line for a team still looking to steady itself after Friday’s game slipped away and nearly got away again in the ninth inning. Baltimore’s top of the order had Taylor Ward leading off in left field, Colton Cowser in center and Leody Taveras in right, while Coby Mayo hit fifth as the designated hitter against Emmet Sheehan.
The catching setup was altered again by Adley Rutschman’s placement on the 7-day injured list, and Samuel Basallo was set to catch the day game even after starting behind the plate the previous night. Craig Albernaz also would not send out Sam Huff, a sign that Baltimore was keeping the backstop rotation tight while the lineup shifted around it.
That is why Blaze Alexander mattered here: not because he was the headline of the afternoon, but because he was the player Baltimore chose to trust at third base in a game it wanted to finish without drama. Jeremiah Jackson was listed at second and Gunnar Henderson at short, giving the Orioles a middle infield built to support Young, while Dean Kremer and Cade Povich were set for rehab appearances the same day. The immediate question is whether Baltimore’s reshuffled group can finally turn a tight Sunday into the series win it was chasing.
