The Orioles gave the home crowd plenty to be excited about, racing out to an early lead and pouring on some late insurance runs for a 8-5 win in the 2025 home opener.
After the “can’t hit with runners in scoring position” accusations began surfacing again in Toronto, the O’s responded in front of the Birdland faithful with a five-hit, four-run rally in the bottom of the 1st. Jordan Westburg led off the inning with a single laced up the middle, and Adley Rutschman moved him over with a cutter hooked into left field.
The parade of singles continued, as Tyler O’Neill ingratiated himself with his new home fans, taking another cutter and driving it into left while driving in Westburg. Ryan Mountcastle picked up the Orioles’ fourth straight, dumping a looping fly ball in front of Jarren Duran in left to plate Adley and give the O’s a 2-0 lead.
After Heston Kjerstad and Ramón Laureano struck out, Cedric Mullins finally delivered a run-scoring hit with two outs. Behind 2-0 in the count, Red Sox starter Sean Newcomb left another cutter over the plate and Mullins lined it into the right-center gap to give the Orioles a 4-0 lead at the end of one. After going 0-7 with RISP Sunday in Toronto, Baltimore went 3-6 with RISP just in the 1st inning.
Those early runs came in support of second-year pitcher Cade Povich. The 24-year-old lefty looked to carry over his hot start from Spring training into the Orioles’ home debut, but ran into some early traffic on the bases. After a Rafael Devers one-out walk followed by an Alex Bregman single, Povich punched out Rob Refsnyder and Trevor Story on high fastballs to close a scoreless 1st.
Povich couldn’t work the same Houdini act in the 2nd as the Red Sox ate into the O’s lead. Kristian Campbell and Romy González got another walk and single to start the 2nd. Povich then responded with another two Ks, punching out Connor Wong looking on an inside fastball before getting Ceddanne Rafaela to swing through three straight curveballs. Duran continued to be a thorn in the Orioles’ side, though, as the 2024 All-Star shot a ball into the left-center gap that turned into a two-run triple when it wedged under the outfield wall.
That was the theme for Povich all afternoon; there was plenty of strikeout stuff, but it was sandwiched around some long at-bats and extended innings. Boston got another run in the 3rd thanks to a couple of softly hit singles and some questionable Orioles defense. After Refsnyder flared a ball over the infield’s heads for a one-out hit, Story blooped another single in front of Laureano in RF.
The new Orioles outfielder got aggressive in trying to gun down Refsnyder advancing to third, but an errant throw allowed him to slide in safely with Story advancing to second. Campbell would then ground out to plate Refsnyder and cut the Orioles’ lead to one.
Povich worked his only 1-2-3 inning of the game in the 4th, getting three groundouts from the Red Sox’ eighth, ninth and leadoff hitters. He’d come out for one final AB in the 5th, striking out Devers looking on a sinker low and away. Brandon Hyde then turned to the bullpen with his starter at 94 pitches. The lefty they call Slim finished with a final line of 4.1 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB and 8 Ks.
With the bullpen doing everything they could to protect the one-run lead, the offense kept coming up short in their search for an insurance run. In the 3rd, O’Neill led off with a single, followed by an RMC walk to give the O’s two on with no outs. Kjerstad and Laureano ended the rally prematurely, though, striking out and grounding into an inning-ending double play.
The twin killing got to the O’s again in the 4th, with Ramón Urías reaching on a one-out single, only for Rutschman to ground into a 1-6-3 double play. After Baltimore grounded into the fewest double plays in 2024, they got off to a tough start with three GIDPs on Monday.
The O’s would finally find their bats again in the bottom of the 8th inning. O’Neill started the rally with his fourth hit of the day, leading off the frame with a single poked to shallow right field. Mountcastle then smashed a worm burner in between third and short, and when Bregman tried to make a diving flip to second, he instead shoveled the ball into right field, allowing both TO’N and RMC to move into scoring position.
Kjerstad then erased the memories of his 0-3 day, slashing a clutch single into left field to drive home O’Neill and give Baltimore their first insurance run. The rally didn’t end there, as the Orioles’ bench helped the Birds pile on more late runs. Jorge Mateo pinch ran for Kjerstad and immediately swiped second. Dylan Carlson then came off the bench to walk the bases loaded, setting the table for another heroic moment out of Mullins.
The longest-tenured Oriole wasted little time, lining a 1-0 changeup off the pitcher’s mound and into centerfield to score Mountcastle and Mateo and blow the game open for the O’s. Jackson Holliday would provide the final run-scoring hit for the day, slashing a single into LF to bring Mullins home.
The always emotional Opening Day reached its emotional crescendo in the 9th when Félix Bautista made his first appearance at Camden Yards in over 500 days. The Mountain was not his usual mountainous self, as he allowed two runs on two hits and two walks to make things a little tighter. And yet, at no point was Birdland happier than when Urías squeezed the final out and Adley could give Bautista a very long-awaited hug.
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It’s the third time Povich has posted 8+ Ks in his career, as it’s two short of his career-high 10 Ks from last September against the White Sox. Outside of Bautista, four Orioles relievers combined to throw 3.2 shutout innings—continuing an overall strong start for the pen. The Orioles will look to wrap up the series win when aces Zach Eflin and Garrett Crochet square off on Wednesday at 6:35pm.
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