(Photo credit: John Hefti-Imagn Images)

The Baltimore Orioles have struggled to get hits in the early going, but they've shown signs of life in the past three games -- a total of 18 runs and 18 hits.

But a huge challenge awaits them Saturday night in the second game of a three-game series against the visiting Cincinnati Reds. That's right-hander Hunter Greene, who has held opposing hitters to a .126 average through his first four starts.

Greene (2-1, 0.98 ERA) has surrendered a total of nine hits and one run in 22 2/3 innings in his three April starts, and for the season, he has struck out 31 batters and given up just 12 hits in 27 2/3 innings. He trails only Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the National League ERA lead.

And Greene, 25, seems to be growing in confidence by the day.

'I think you have to have that confidence, especially playing at this level. It's the best players in the world,' Greene said. 'It's a long season. Trying to be an ace of a staff comes with a lot of consistency.'

Greene has a scoreless streak of 19 innings over the past three games, and his only loss came April 2 in a 1-0 defeat against the Texas Rangers. He has one career outing against Baltimore, blanking the Orioles for 5 2/3 innings in a 3-0 loss last May 3, when he didn't figure into the decision.

On the flip side, right-hander Brandon Young is slated to make his major league debut for the Orioles. He's a 26-year-old who has logged 16 1/3 innings over three starts with Triple-A Norfolk this year. He is 1-1 with a 2.76 ERA.

'You never know what you're going to get with someone's major league debut,' Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde said. 'He has had a couple of good appearances down in Norfolk. Hopefully, he's able to calm the nerves down to give us a good start.'

The Orioles are hitting .229 as a team, down from .250 in 2024.

One of the Baltimore batters who's in a rut is infielder Jordan Westburg, who is in an 0-for-27 slump and has seen his average fall from .297 to .175. He's dealing with what Hyde called an upper-body ailment, but he's not a candidate to go on injured reserve at this time, Hyde said.

'A guy pressing,' Hyde said. 'He's really trying hard. And he's just out in front, and he's getting in bad counts and all those things when someone is going through a tough time.'

The Reds, who have won five of their past seven games, hit three home runs in Friday night's 8-3 victory in the series opener.

Manager Terry Francona likes the way his team is trending.

'You're going to see some guys get hot,' he said.

Still, Francona is cautious about putting too much stock in any particular game, particularly in mid-April.

'We'll move on from (Friday) pretty quick,' he said. 'We've got a 4 o'clock game (Saturday).'

Among the contributors for the Reds on Friday night was left fielder Austin Hays, who went 2-for-4 with a walk. He played parts of seven seasons with Baltimore prior to last summer's trade to the Philadelphia Phillies, so he's a player the Orioles are familiar with. He signed a one-year deal with the Reds in January.

'One of my favorites, a great guy when he was here,' Hyde said. 'The way he played, with hair on fire all the time.'

Hays received a huge ovation from the Baltimore crowd when he made his first plate appearance on Friday. He was expecting some emotions attached to this series.

'I love those guys over there,' he said. 'They gave me my first shot.'

--Field Level Media