Coby

Mayo

Basallo takes a seat as the Orioles deploy a righty-heavy lineup to face Yankees lefty Ryan Weathers. The 21-year-old rookie backstop has been locked in at the plate recently, hitting .283 (15-for-53) with four homers and eight RBI over his last 15 games. Adley Rutschman is behind the dish with Pete Alonso at DH and Coby Mayo at first base in this one.

Mayo was responsible for Baltimore’s lone extra-base hit of the contest when he doubled against Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet with one out in the fourth inning. The 24-year-old former top prospect has shown some signs of life recently with hits in four consecutive games.

The 110-mph homer was Mayo’s lone hit of the day, but he did have a 108-mph lineout to go along with it. Kind of incredibly, Mayo now has 12 100-mph balls in play this season but only seven hit between 90-99 mph. The power is obviously there, but the consistent contact just isn’t, which is why he’s hitting .164 this year and .195 in 122 big-league games to date. If the Orioles get healthy, he still could wind up back in the minors at some point.

Jackson’s slam in the sixth brought the Orioles to within one run at 7-6. They then took the lead in the seventh before Jackson added a solo shot for insurance in the eighth inning of the 9-7 win. It’s Jackson’s first career two-homer game, and he’s now hitting .318/.326/.545 in 46 plate appearances for the season. The question of whether Jackson or Coby Mayo would get sent down when Jackson Holliday returned seems moot for now because of Ryan Mountcastle’s broken foot, but Jackson would seem to be clearly ahead of Mayo on the depth chart based on how they’ve performed so far.

Mayo is just 6-for-38 on the season with one extra base hit and a 13/6 K/BB ratio. With Ryan Mountcastle (foot) now potentially out for over a month, Mayo should continue to get an opportunity to play regularly in Baltimore, but he’ll need to start producing soon before Jackson Holliday (hamate) returns to the lineup. For now, Blaze Alexander will start at third base and bat ninth.

His three balls in play were flies with 50-, 61- and 73-degree launch angles, all producing .010 xBAs. It’s still just 10 games, but Mayo is 5-for-30 with one extra-base hit (a double), one RBI and 11 strikeouts. A decent start probably would have kept him in the role as the Orioles’ primary third baseman at least until Jordan Westburg returned (if Westburg returns). As is, he could face demotion once Jackson Holliday is activated. It’s between him and Jeremiah Jackson, who, fortunately for Mayo, is also off to a poor start.

It’s the second time in three games that Mayo has sat, both against right-handed starters. Mayo is off to a .118/.250/.176 start in 20 plate appearances. Jeremiah Jackson is handling second base while Blaze Alexander shifts over to the hot corner.

Basallo, who is 2-for-10 with four strikeouts this season, returns to face Rangers ace Jacob deGrom after getting a break during Monday’s series opener. Coby Mayo gets his first day off with Blaze Alexander handling the hot corner and Jeremiah Jackson at the keystone.

“Things are going fine so far, but we still have a lot of time ahead of us,” Elias said. Westburg isn’t currently on the 60-day IL, but he might wind up there if the Orioles need his spot on the 40-man. As is, it looks like Coby Mayo will be Baltimore’s primary third baseman for at least the first 6-8 weeks.

Based on his mediocre exit velocity numbers and too-high strikeout rate, Mayo’s September breakout last year seemed like a mirage. His strong spring numbers, though, hold up much better to scrutiny, as he’s struck out just once in 34 plate appearances and his hard-hit rate sits at 47%. We’re still not particularly confident he’ll be helpful in shallow leagues while filling in for Jordan Westburg, but there are certainly worse fliers out there.