SARASOTA, Florida-What’s happening?-Grayson Rodriguez will make his second start of the spring when the Orioles visit the Pittsburgh Pirates at LECOM Park in Bradenton on Sunday at 1:05 p.m.
The game will be broadcast on WBAL/98 Rock with Scott Garceau and Melanie Newman and is available on MLB.TV.
Rodriguez allowed one run on one hit (a home run), walking one and striking out two in two innings in his first game against a Detroit Tigers split-squad on February 27th.
The Orioles will continue to give significant innings to left-hander Bruce Zimmermann, who threw two scoreless innings on Friday against Atlanta in North Port. Zimmermann followed Tyler Wells, who started and went two innings.
“We’re building him up as a starter,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “It’s one of those where if his day lands on another starter’s day, then we have to make a choice on what we have to do. Whether he’s starting a game or coming in after a starter, we’re still building him up a starter.”
What’s happened?—Left-hander Cole Irvin threw three scoreless innings in his second start, and newly acquired right-hander Julio Teheran retired the three batters he faced as Baltimore defeated the New York Yankees, 7-3, before a sellout crowd of 8,204 at Ed Smith Stadium on Saturday.
Irvin gave up three hits and walked a batter, throwing 52 pitches. He’s thrown five shutout innings in his two starts.
“I felt pretty good. The command of some offspeed pitches wasn’t exactly there, which is something I’m trying to work on,” Irvin said. “Ultimately, I’ve still got more stuff to work on, but fastball from the two-seam to the cutter to the four-seam to the changeup. Those are all right where they need to be. Moving forward, just going to continue to work on the offspeed stuff and make those as good as they were in the offseason.”
Hyde liked Irvin’s outing.
“He built off last outing, and got three good innings out of him,” Hyde said.
Teheran, 33, who was signed to a minor league contract on Wednesday, raced through the fourth inning, striking out one.
“I feel pretty happy the way I threw,” Teheran said. “Command was a little off, Good to see I got into situations with counts, and able to use all my pitches.”
Teheran, who could be used as a starter or in relief, acknowledged he was excited.
“Especially coming into a new team, there’s a lot of adrenaline,” he said. “I’m trying to focus on one thing, and work on whatever I need to work, and I know everything is going to be there.”
Dillon Tate, Nick Vespi, Luis González and Wandisson Charles each pitched a scoreless inning. Minor league right-hander Logan Rinehart allowed three runs in the ninth.
Austin Hays hit a fifth-inning home run and a two-run single in the sixth. Ryan Mountcastle had a two-run double in the sixth. Kyle Stowers hit his third home run of the spring. They’re all against left-handers.
“They’re no-doubters, too,” Hyde said. “He’s putting really good swings together, and that’s not easy to do. To play the back half of the game, you sit around for an hour-and-a-half, two hours and all of a sudden, you have to jump up and get in the game and to take the at-bats he’s taken, I’m happy for him.
“Last year was a rough year for him and to see the way he’s swinging the bat right now, it’s exciting for us.”
Second baseman Kolten Wong, who also signed a minor league contract on Wednesday, was hitless in two at-bats in his first game.
David Rubenstein, who will become the controlling owner of the Orioles once his group’s purchase is approved by Major League Baseball, attended the game.
What’s up with?—Bryan Baker has allowed one hit in 1 2/3 scoreless innings in two games. Baker has walked one and struck out three. He’s impressed by the bullpen and the team.
“Each year, it keeps getting better and better since I’ve been here,” Baker said. “This will be my third spring here. It’s pretty evident that we just keep getting better and better each year. It’s probably some of the most talent in the league in this locker room, so it’s definitely awesome to be a part of it.”
Baker isn’t concerned about the bullpen competition.
“I don’t really think about that. I think about showing up one day at a time and just doing my job and the rest will take care of itself,” he said.
Last year, Baker pitched for the Orioles only once in the last two months of the regular season, though he did make a brief appearance in Game 2 of the Division Series.
“It was tough. You put in a lot of time and effort and help the team out a lot and not being there for clinching the postseason hurts a little bit for sure,” Baker said. “Still being a part of it at all was pretty awesome. I’m focused on the positives.”
What’s what?-Recently, Orioles starter Dean Kremer, who pitched 172 2/3 innings last year, mentioned that he would like to throw 200 innings in 2024. An Orioles starter hasn’t thrown 200 since Chris Tillman threw 207 1/3 innings in 2014.
While that number may be important to Kremer, it’s not to Hyde.
“That’s not a number I put on anybody,” Hyde said. “That’s great that they want to do that, and that means they’re staying out there for a while, and they make 30-plus starts. If they can do that, that would be great. It’s not a goal of mine to have these guys reach 200 innings, even though it’s an amazing accomplishment.”
“I’d just like to see them make all their starts and try to keep them as healthy as possible.”
What’s the word? “When you’re playing in the division, you don’t want to show them everything. I reserved a couple of pitches to hold on to.”-Irvin on facing the Yankees, an American League East rival.
What’s the number? 3. Stowers hit his third home run of the spring, all against left-handers. He has only four at-bats against left-handers in 121 regular-season at-bats.
“Just working on the swing efficiency, just being in a better position to hit on time, and I think that happens to translate into lefties right now because I’ve been seeing so many,” Stowers said. “Hopefully, as the at-bats against righties start to stack up, too, I think the same thing will translate.”
What’s the record? 8-1. The Orioles will play the Pittsburgh Pirates at LECOM Park in Bradenton at 1:05 p.m. on Sunday.