Houston @ Baltimore Game Overview

How that holds up against the Houston Astros will be determined beginning Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series in Baltimore.

There will be much-anticipated home debuts for outfielder Dylan Beavers and catcher Samuel Basallo, a pair of players who reached the major leagues during the Orioles' recent road trip. Basallo, 21, racked up five RBIs across three games and batted .300.

"I've had this really good ability to put the bat on the ball ever since I was a little kid," Basallo said. "So I think that's something I've taken a lot of pride in, being able to put the bat on the ball."

Beavers batted .286 across four games, with one RBI.

The Orioles, who were off Wednesday after Tuesday night's 4-3, 11-inning victory at Boston, have won six of their last seven games -- with the loss coming in 12 innings Saturday at Houston. Baltimore won the other two games in the series.

Houston saw its losing streak extend to four games with a 7-2 setback at Detroit on Wednesday. At least that snapped a three-game scoreless streak for the Astros, whose no-runs stretch reached 31 innings.

"Baseball is a long, long, long season," Astros manager Joe Espada said. "We're still in a really good position. The last time I checked we're in first place."

Houston leads the Seattle Mariners by 1 1/2 games atop the American League West.

The Astros, though, have concerns about center fielder Taylor Trammell, who had a hard fall Tuesday night and then came out of Wednesday's game after colliding with the wall and was carted off the field. Espada said he's being evaluated for a concussion.

The Orioles also are trying to patch things together.

Infielder Jordan Westburg was out Tuesday because of an ankle ailment. Catcher Adley Rutschman was scratched from the lineup because of abdominal soreness, and he hasn't played since Sunday.

Their statuses are unclear for the Houston series.

"I think we get to Thursday, we'll have a pretty good idea if we're going to kind of keep him day-to-day and keep him off the IL and what that kind of looks like," Orioles interim manager Tony Mansolino said of Westburg. "Doesn't mean he's going to play Thursday, but if we're able to just kind of suck it up four or five days and then play him."

Rookie right-hander Brandon Young (1-6, 5.68 ERA) will look for his second big-league victory as the starting pitcher Thursday for the Orioles. His lone triumph came with eight shutout innings last Friday in Houston, where he held the Astros to one hit without a walk and six strikeouts in a 7-0 victory.

"I can kind of get that monkey off my back and kind of breathe a little bit," Young said of notching a victory.

It was far from ordinary as he held a perfect game with two outs in the eighth inning before an infield single ended that quest.

Houston will have right-hander Jason Alexander (3-1, 4.74 ERA) on the mound on Thursday. He didn't record a decision Saturday when he allowed two runs on three hits in six innings in his team's 5-4 victory against Baltimore. The runs came on Dylan Carlson's two-run home run.

That marked Alexander's third consecutive six-inning outing. It's the only time he has faced the Orioles.

--Field Level Media