Youthful Orioles look to salvage series split in Bronx

At various points during their time with Triple-A Norfolk, outfielder Colton Cowser and third baseman Jordan Westburg anticipated the possibility of contributing big hits for the Baltimore Orioles in the same game.

They finally got their chance on Wednesday, and their success put the Orioles in position to earn a split of their four-game series against the host New York Yankees on Thursday night.

The Orioles rebounded from getting outscored 14-7 in the first two games to post a 6-3 victory on Wednesday. It was Baltimore's second win in the past eight contests.

Cowser made his major league debut on Wednesday after hitting .330 with 10 homers and 40 RBIs with Norfolk, and he delivered an RBI single for the first run of a four-run sixth inning against the Yankees.

Westburg, who was playing his eighth major league game, subsequently knocked in Aaron Hicks and Cowser with a triple.

"That was awesome," Cowser said of Westburg's hit. "I wish he would have split the gap a little bit more so I didn't have to stop, but he put a good swing on it. He's a great guy, a great guy in the clubhouse. Just glad that he's here with me."

Westburg made his debut on June 26 after batting .295 with 18 homers and 54 RBIs for Norfolk.

"We both kind of knew there might be an opportunity at some point this year for us to both be together here," Westburg said. "It's just awesome. Where we're at, as a team all we're trying to do is fill roles where we're asked to and help this club win."

The inability to stop Cowser and Westburg sent the Yankees to their fourth loss in 11 games. Josh Donaldson and rookie Anthony Volpe homered, but Anthony Rizzo, Gleyber Torres, Giancarlo Stanton and DJ LeMahieu were a combined 0-for-15 on Wednesday.

"I'm not hitting to my standard," said Rizzo, who is 2-for-17 over his past five games and is batting .260 overall. "It's frustrating personally, but this is part of being a baseball player. When things are tough, it shows your character of who you are and it's just an opportunity to keep working and figure it out."

The Yankees will try to figure it out against Baltimore's Kyle Bradish (4-4, 3.58 ERA), who hopes to get better run support from his teammates and surpass his win total from his rookie campaign of 2022.

The right-hander last pitched on Saturday against Minnesota, and he gave up only one run on seven hits in six innings. However, the outing marked the sixth time this season he exited a game without a single run of support from the Orioles' offense, and the Twins went on to win 1-0.

Bradish is 0-1 with a 5.02 ERA in three career starts against the Yankees. He last faced New York on May 23, when he allowed four runs on seven hits in five innings during a no-decision.

Luis Severino (1-3, 6.30 ERA) will attempt to rebound from one of the worst starts of his career when he pitches for New York on Thursday. The right-hander pitched in the opener of the Saturday doubleheader at St. Louis and allowed nine runs, seven earned, on nine hits in four-plus innings, the second-most runs he ever allowed in a game.

Severino is 7-1 with a 3.39 ERA in 12 career appearances (10 starts) against the Orioles. Since a no-decision against them on April 7, 2017, in New York, he is 6-0 in his past six starts vs. Baltimore.