Cade

Povich

Povich’s night started strong with three scoreless frames and six strikeouts. Then, he began to fall apart as the Cardinals rallied in the fourth inning with Jordan Walker yanking a two-out, two-run single through the hole before Brendan Donovan hammered a home run the following inning. Povich was pulled shortly after and this start wound up as another where he struggled to maintain his effectiveness as he moved deeper into a game. It should be noted that he pitched through steady rain here and visibly wet field conditions. His next start is scheduled to come against the Mariners in Seattle.

No one would believe it from the 19-5 final score, but the Orioles were up 2-1 when Povich departed. He has a 3.86 ERA and a 26/9 K/BB over 28 innings in his last five starts. That’s not reason to pick him up in mixed leagues, but the Orioles will take it. He’ll probably make his next start Wednesday against the Cardinals.

The game will be made up Friday as part of a split doubleheader, with the first game starting at 1:35 p.m. ET, and the second game scheduled for 7:10 p.m. Lucas Giolito and Cade Povich were the scheduled starters for Thursday, and likely will start one of the two games Friday.

Povich gave up three hits, walked two and struck out nine. The 25-year-old left-hander was staked to a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning, but gave it up before he was removed with two outs. Povich has just one win in eight starts this year, but he’s allowed two earned runs or less in three of his last four starts. Povich’s 4.06 xFIP is over a run lower than his 5.23 ERA, which points to better starts ahead as long as he stays in the Orioles rotation. Povich is lined up to face the Brewers on the road next week.

Povich might wind up taking the ball for Wednesday’s nightcap, but that’s up in the air at the moment. The 25-year-old lefty was slated to start Tuesday’s contest before it was postponed due to rain. It’ll be Dean Kremer drawing the starting assignment for the opening contest of the twin bill.

Simeon Woods Richardson and Cade Povich were slated to start for the two teams tonight. They’ll be needed on Wednesday, when Bailey Ober and Dean Kremer were already scheduled to duel.

The 25-year-old hurler struck out four batters on the evening and didn’t allow a base on balls. All of the damage done against him came during a five-run uprising in the third inning capped off by a two-run blast off the bat of Carlos Correa. To Povich’s credit though, he rebounded nicely and finished his day with three scoreless frames. He got 10 whiffs on 103 pitches on the night, posting a CSW of 24 percent. He’ll look to bounce back as he brings a 5.55 ERA, 1.54 WHIP and a 29/12 K/BB ratio (35 2/3 innings) into Sunday’s matchup against the Angels.

Povich had some command issues in this one. He allowed home runs to Aaron Judge and Paul Goldschmidt on pitches that were literally right down the middle and was around the heart of the plate far too often. Otherwise, he was missing badly with his secondary pitches, especially his changeup and curveball. Povich needs some semblance of consistency from those pitches to get right-handed batters out, but they combined to force just one swing-and-miss and zero swings outside the strike zone. Alas, he’s lined up for a two-start week coming up against the Twins and Angels.

Povich struck out five batters on the night while issuing only one base on balls. After getting obliterated by the Reds in his last outing, Povich showed once again why he’s such a highly-regarded prospect in this one, baffling the Nationals’ hitters for most of the evening and generating plenty of weak contact. The lone tally against him came on an RBI single by Josh Bell in the second inning. Povich got eight whiffs on 87 pitches on the night, posting a CSW of 34 percent. Assuming that he doesn’t get replaced in the rotation by Kyle Gibson, he’ll look to further improve upon his 5.04 ERA and 1.72 WHIP when he takes on the Yankees at home on Tuesday.

Elly De La Cruz, Jeimer Candelario and Matt McLain all homered off him. Povich, now 0-2 with a 6.38 ERA, has a little more time to turn things around with Kyle Gibson still tuning up in the minors, but he’s not long for the majors at this rate. He’s completed five innings in only one of his four starts.