Chris Bassitt is back in the Orioles’ rotation, and tonight’s opener at Tropicana Field comes with a quick roster shuffle to make it happen.
Baltimore reinstated Bassitt from the 60-day injured list and handed him the start against the Rays in the first game of a four-game set. To clear room and restore an eight-man bullpen, the Orioles optioned Yaramil Hiradlo to Triple-A Norfolk. The 40-man roster remains full.
Bassitt hasn’t taken the mound for Baltimore since June 3 in Boston, when his season was interrupted by surgery to remove a bone spur in his lower back. Against Tampa Bay, he has a 1-7 record and a 4.17 ERA in 11 games, including 10 starts.
The matchup history is mixed for both clubs. Yandy Díaz is 2-for-16 against Bassitt, while Chandler Simpson has gone 4-for-8 with a double. Former Oriole Cedric Mullins is 3-for-8 and has homered off him.
Baltimore also brings a few hitters in with momentum. Pete Alonso has piled up nine hits and six runs over his last four games, becoming the first Oriole to hit those marks across a four-game stretch since Jordan Westburg in July-Aug. 2025, per STATS. Gunnar Henderson has done serious damage against the Rays over his career, batting .318 with 57 hits in 179 at-bats, his highest hit total against any opponent.
The Orioles have also found some offense lately, scoring at least five runs in each of their last four games to match their longest such run of the season. Their previous four-game stretch like that came in July 2025.
Tampa Bay is countering with left-hander Steven Matz as an opener. His last start came on June 2, and tonight will be his 11 th appearance among 23 games overall.
He faced Baltimore in consecutive outings in May, allowing one run over four innings in St. Petersburg and six runs over three innings in Baltimore.
In 11 career games against the Orioles, including seven starts, Matz has a 4.79 ERA.
Alonso has seen Matz well, going 4-for-10 with a homer. Henderson is 3-for-6 against him with a home run, too.
The Rays come in scorching hot. They’ve won nine straight and own baseball’s best record at 74-46, backed by a 41-18 mark at home.
Tampa Bay has also swept 13 series this season, including each of its last three, leaving it one shy of the 1970 and 1980 Orioles and the 2001 Mariners. The major league record is 15, set by the 1954 Indians and 2001 Athletics in seasons where each series was at least three games.
Baltimore and Toronto are both two games out of the final Wild Card spot, with four clubs ahead of them. The Orioles have already seen plenty of Tampa Bay this year: the Rays swept them at Tropicana Field and were swept at Camden Yards.
Elsewhere in the organization, MLB Pipeline updated its top 30 prospect list yesterday, with outfielder Eric Booth Jr. now leading the Orioles’ board. Booth, the seventh overall pick in the 2026 draft, also landed at No. 40 on MLB Pipeline’s top 100 list despite having played only two professional games with Class A Delmarva. He is 18 and was drafted out of high school.
Right-hander Anthony Eyanson, a key part of the return from the Red Sox in the Adley Rutschman trade, dropped to second on the Orioles’ list. Outfielder Enddy Azocar and right-hander Kyson Witherspoon, also part of that deal, checked in at ninth and 12 th. Right-hander Michael Forret, acquired from the Rays for Tyler Wells, sits 10 th.
The rest of the top group includes left-hander Joseph Dzierwa at third, followed by lefty Caden Hunter, outfielder/first baseman Ike Irish, outfielder Nate George, lefty Luis De León and shortstop Wehiwa Aloy. Hunter, a sixth-round pick last year out of USC, was unranked before the season.
Outfielder Ty Head, selected in the second round this year, is 15 th, while outfielder Kevin Roberts Jr., a fourth-round pick, is 29 th. Outfielder Harold Rivas, the player to be named later in the Rutschman trade, is 25 th.
Enrique Bradfield Jr. fell to 18 th, one spot behind pitcher Trey Gibson, and catcher Creed Willems came in at No. 28.
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For Baltimore, that means another look at a Rays group that may not line up the way it did even a few days ago. Boyle has made three starts for Tampa Bay this year, but he is expected to work out of the bullpen this time, which gives the Rays another power option for a matchup that could hinge on how early they choose to lean into their relief corps. [Read more 🡒]