Good morning, Camden Chatters.
Let me tell you — around the fourth inning of yesterday’s game, I was feeling a little grumpy. And I know I wasn’t the only one. The Orioles were in a 4-0 hole to the Twins in the rubber game of the season-opening series. The offense had continued its early doldrums in which the Birds scored just three runs in their first 20 innings. This wasn’t quite the return to glory that O’s fans were hoping for. Losing their opening series to a team that’s not expected to contend
would be a bad look for an Orioles club hoping to rebound from their dismal 2025 season.
I’m happy to report that things greatly improved. The Orioles erupted for eight runs in the span of four innings, quadrupling their output from either of the previous two games. They were particularly potent with runners in scoring position, going 5-for-8. And after testing the new ABS system just once in the first two games, the Orioles went hog wild yesterday, using five challenges — part of a whopping 10 challenges in the game — and winning four of them, including a huge ninth-inning sequence in which Josh Bell twice thought he had walked but was rung up on strikes instead. Early returns on ABS: it’s good! Check out Andrea SK’s recap of the wildest game of the year so far.
So the Orioles have won their opening series and carry a 2-1 record into their three-game set against the Rangers. Hopefully their offensive explosion in the finale will spark the bats going forward. Still, there are some early causes for concern for the Birds. Their defense and bullpen, which many fans thought would be the Orioles’ biggest weaknesses, have indeed been shaky at the outset. There have been several misadventures in the outfield — including another yesterday, when Dylan Beavers lost a ball in the sun for a double — and the relief corps has had a heck of a tough time trying to preserve late leads. Yaramil Hiraldo coughed up a first-pitch homer and three walks yesterday, while Tyler Wells was scored upon for the second time in as many appearances. But kudos to Rico Garcia and Yennier Cano, each of whom escaped a bases-loaded jam yesterday with an inning-ending strikeout.
We’ll gladly take the series win. But after watching these first three games, I’m still clueless about where the rest of this Orioles season is going to go. You could tell me they’ll be a 90-win team or a 70-win team and I could easily see either outcome.
Links
Bats come alive as Orioles win series against Twins – The Baltimore Banner
The Orioles’ late rally overcame a rocky outing by Shane Baz in his Orioles debut. It probably wasn’t the best first impression he could’ve made, but he’s got five years to make better ones.
Polar Bear ‘stoked to come through’ as first RBI propels Orioles over Twins – MLB.com
Jake Rill takes a deep dive into Pete Alonso’s pivotal seventh-inning at-bat, which included another successful ABS challenge. I think we’re going to like the Polar Bear just fine.
Orioles acquire Hagerstown native Jayvien Sandridge from Angels – BaltimoreBaseball.com
Sandridge could just be a guy who immediately gets waived and spends all season in the minor leagues, but it’d be a nice story if the Maryland native made an appearance for his hometown team.
Updating Akin’s injury and the impact on Wolfram in Orioles bullpen – School of Roch
I never thought I’d be saying this, but…hurry back, Keegan Akin!
Orioles birthdays and history
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! The Orioles didn’t have a player with a March 30 birthday for the first 71 years of their existence, but they broke that drought last year with Ryan Noda, who played seven games. He turns 30 today. Noda is currently playing for Triple-A Norfolk, where he’s 3-for-7 with a dinger so far.
The Orioles have played four games on this date in history, and they’ve won three of them:
- In 2019, they picked up their first win of the Brandon Hyde/Mike Elias era with a 5-3 victory at Yankee Stadium. The Orioles’ lineup that day featured the likes of Dwight Smith Jr., Joey Rickard, Drew Jackson, Jesús Sucre, and Richie Martin, and their pitchers included Nate Karns, Jimmy Yacabonis (who got the win!) and Mike Wright Jr. (who got the save!). What a time to be alive.
- In 2023, the O’s eked out an Opening Day victory over the Red Sox, 10-9, at Fenway Park. Adley Rutschman dazzled in his first career Opening Day, becoming the first MLB player since 1937 to go 5-for-5 in the season’s first game, as part of a potent, 15-hit Orioles attack. The O’s built a seemingly comfortable 10-4 lead by the seventh inning, only to nearly collapse, giving up three runs in the eighth and two more in the ninth. Félix Bautista finally slammed the door with a game-ending strikeout with the tying run at second base.
- And in 2024, the Orioles improved to 2-0 with their second straight shellacking of the Angels, 13-4, to give them 24 runs scored in two games. In a game that was 3-1 after six, the Birds demolished the Angels’ bullpen for nine runs in the seventh inning, in which nine consecutive hitters reached base before the first out was recorded. Anthony Santander homered and Gunnar Henderson was a double shy of the cycle, supporting a solid six-inning effort from starter Grayson Rodriguez (who is now an Angel himself).
