Cade Povich Outduels MacKenzie Gore to Pickup His First Win on Season

Battle of Young Guns - Povich 1-0 Gore

If you told Os fans they would only score two runs prior to today they would have groaned.  

Following a quality start from Tomoyuki Sugano where the Os came up just short - two runs sounds like another mark in the wrong column, and worse a streak that had no end in sight.  But the Orioles came with their A game today.

That started with Cade Povich on the hill.  Povich posted six and two thirds innings of work on 87 pitches. Allowing just 4 hits and 1 walk, the kid was dialed in, and the Orioles gave him a lead early enough to give him his first W on the season.  Povich managed to force mostly weak contact throughout the day to keep his pitch count low on a team looking to make him pay for mistakes over the middle.

Povich worked his sweeper to lefties and his fastball to righties as his primary pitch.  The only run scored by the Nationals came in the second inning.  Amed Rosario doubled, and Josh Bell singled him in.  Overall the Nationals only converted that opportunity with a runner in scoring position, and the Orioles only allowed 4 opportunities total.

On the other side MacKenzie Gore showed why he is now the MLB strikeout leader after his 8 K day vs the birds.  He also only allowed 4 hits and 1 walk.  But the Orioles managed to string together key hits to drive in two runs.  Ramon Laureano doubled, O’Hearn singled him in, and Cedric Mullins singled in O’Hearn.  The key is though, all the Orioles outs were hard hit at 93 MPH or higher.

By this point in the lineup the Orioles had seen his stuff, and knew how to find their pitch.  The Orioles managed to key in on the young flamethrower.

Bullpen Shuts the Game Down, Felix Bautista Gets Save

The Orioles used three relievers in Thursday's rubber match.  Cano, Soto, and Bautista.  Cano got one pitch, one out.  Soto threw a runnerless 8th inning.  Felix shut it down with a bit of theatrics.

This bullpen is figuring out their roles.  They’re missing a key piece in Andrew Kittredge they’re hoping will be back sooner than later.  But on paper the Orioles bullpen will be a force.  The management team is working to ensure that their arms are healthy as the year progresses.  We all saw how shaky things can be without Felix Bautista.  Even though the other guys are great too - allowing them to be used a bit more flexibly give the Orioles more options for high leverage spots, hold spots, and close spots when the Mountain isn’t available.

Overall when the bullpen has been given a chance to hold leads, they’ve been solid.  Even though they gave up the winning run yesterday… it might’ve gone differently if the Os luck had been a bit better that day.  But overall the bullpen shut it down tonight, and will be a big part of the Orioles success this season.

Orioles Offense Close to Breaking the Lid Off

The Orioles are close to an offensive explosion.  The team is starting to see the ball better, and they’re frustrated with the way they’re playing.  But in the series against the Nationals there was more fire from a team that just started the season the wrong way.  With many players working back from injuries for the first time in their career - almost no one has been playing well.

Somehow even with a dismal start - the Orioles are 4.5 games back in the AL East… in April.  Nothing my team can’t overcome.

There’s chances with runners on as the Orioles went 2-9 with runners in scoring position tonight.  But now they have confidence they can get a win like this game.  Before every game felt like a lot of pressure on an offense with a lot of new faces.  Winning some games is sometimes the cure all, and a game like today is a great start.

The Orioles played two competitive games back to back against a team that had their number.  Cedric Mullins came up huge with a 2 out RBI.  Ramón Laureano sparked a rally, and has been a solid outfield veteran presence. As the pressure comes off, and mashing baseballs becomes fun again the Orioles are going to get hot and go on a run soon.

The Orioles will have to bring their bats if they want to get a series win as they’ll have to go up against a Tigers rotation that has three guys really pitching well to start the year.

Next Up: Orioles Face Detroit Tigers in Motor City

The Orioles better get used to pitching duels.  Because heading up to the land of the Great Lakes, the Tigers got three pitchers throwing lights out, including 2024 AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal.  The other two are not slouches either with all three guys posting a sub 3 ERA on the young season.

Brandon Young will make his second MLB start.  After getting the jitters out, he’ll need to give the Orioles a solid outing, and get the game to the bullpen as he faces off against Casey Mize (2.22 ERA).  Mize is having a stellar start to the season, and has some of the best peripherals in baseball.  The Orioles lineup will need to take the confidence from the last couple games into game 1 to give Young the pitcher a chance.

Charlie Morton will get another chance to show he’s deserving of a rotation spot.  Signed for $15m the 42 year old World Series Champion has an abysmal 0-5 record in 5 starts with a 10.89 ERA. Hopefully Charlie Morton can find his arm as he faces off against Jackson Jobe (2.70 ERA).  Once the Tigers top prospect, Jobe has been solid in his limited MLB time.  His underlying stats show a bit of weakness the Orioles coaching staff might be able to capitalize on, but Jobe has been tough to figure out so far.

Lastly we got Deano against Skubal in the Sunday afternoon rubber match.  Expect Dean to bring his stuff as he faces off against one of the most talked about pitchers in baseball.  Dean Kremer has been frustrated of late on the hill, but the veteran will get an opportunity against one of the toughest foes in the game.