It has been 136 days since the Orioles last appeared on a diamond. Today, that all changed and signaled that baseball is back, as the march towards Opening Day has begun.
The Orioles hosted the Boston Red Sox in their spring training opener, and O’s fans were provided with a treat to kick start the Grapefruit League action.
Corbin Burnes and Adley Rutschman were the opening battery mates, something Orioles fans have been anxiously waiting to see. Burnes struck out the first two batters on six straight pitches before giving up a single to start the game. He then induced a groundout to end the inning.
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A successful debut and a good first impression on the club and fans. Burnes says he should be on track to give 90-95 pitches by Opening Day against the Los Angeles Angels on March 28.
In the bottom of the first, the Orioles sent four batters to the plate. Two flyouts and lineout were sandwiched around Adley Rutschman’s first at-bat this spring. He calmly deposited a pitch to center field to make it an early 1-0 Orioles lead.
The O’s stayed quiet until the fourth when Ryan O’Hearn singled and was followed by an Austin Hays double. Ramón Urías would tie the game at two with a sacrifice fly.
Mike Baumann pitched an inning with a strikeout and was followed by new Oriole Jonathan Heasley, who struggled a bit with command in his O’s debut.
Pitching 0.2 innings, Heasley allowed three hits, including a home run, striking out one. Ryan Watson closed out the inning with Rutschman throwing out Bobby Dalbec, trying to steal second.
Garrett Stallings would pitch the next three innings, retiring nine of the 12 batters he faced. He allowed two hits and a walk but was effective and kept the Red Sox off the board.
Nick Vespi made his spring debut, completing an inning while striking out one and allowing no base runners. Trey McGough would relieve Vespi and struggle in his inning of work. He gave up three hits, including the go-ahead run, while striking out one batter.
Morgan McSweeney (W, 1-0) started the ninth inning, allowing a walk but inducing a double play to close out the Red Sox and pick up the win in this one.
Colton Cowser would end the game with a walk-off two-run home. After Errol Robinson reached on a leadoff single, Cowser took a 1-0 pitch to left-center for the game-winning wind-aided home run.
Jorge Mateo,Tyler Nevin and Coby Mayo also collected hits today to help tally eight total for the team and four runs for the game. The Orioles were 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and struck out eight times, collecting one walk.
The attendance for the opener today was set as 7,950, a record for the Orioles at Ed Smith Stadium since they moved to the beautiful ballpark in sunny Sarasota.
The Orioles are back at it again tomorrow. They will travel to Bradenton, Florida, to take on the Pittsburgh Pirates at LECOM Park at 1:05 p.m. EST. The Birds will send left-hander Cole Irvin to the mound to start the game.
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