Baltimore Orioles starter Chris Bassitt was looking forward to an opportunity to turn his season around on Wednesday against a very tough Houston Astros lineup. Bassitt entered Wednesday with a 6.75 ERA. His poor performance has contributed to what has been a disappointing 14–15 start to the season for a Baltimore team that many feel won the offseason, at least in the AL East.
While the Astros are dealing with a fair share of injuries, they do have many of their big bats in the lineup, including Yordan Alvarez, who is swinging it as good as anybody in baseball right now. Alvarez also has success in his career against Bassitt, going 9-22 with five homers and 11 RBIs.
That start will not come on Wednesday, as the Orioles announced the game will be delayed and played as a double-header on Thursday.
“Tonight’s game has been postponed due to inclement weather,” the team said. “The game will be made up as part of a traditional (single-admission) doubleheader tomorrow, Thursday, April 30. Game one will begin at 12:35 p.m. ET, followed by game two approximately 30 minutes after the first game.”
Baltimore was in the market for starting pitching this MLB offseason. There were several big names tied to the Orioles in free agency, most notably left-handed starter Framber Valdez. After spending his entire career with the Houston Astros and hitting free agency, Valdez made an unexpected move and signed with the Detroit Tigers.
At that point in the offseason, most of the other big-name starters had signed elsewhere, which left Baltimore without many options. The Orioles had already traded for Shane Baz at that point, which was a solid move, but there were questions about how the front of their rotation would look. Following a very impressive postseason with the Toronto Blue Jays, where he featured primarily in big spots out of the bullpen, Bassitt ultimately signed a contract with Baltimore to be a starting pitcher.
Signing Pete Alonso and trading for Taylor Ward, the Orioles also reinforced their offense, and while they did not land that front-of-the-line starter, they did make moves to the rotation that improved it on paper. Bassitt was a big part of that, and so far hasn’t delivered.
In a 162-game season, it is hard to put too much emphasis on one particular game, but this feels like one that could begin to shift the momentum for both Baltimore and Bassitt if it goes in their favor on Thursday.