Tomoyuki Sugano Leads Orioles Pitchers With 8Ks, Orioles Rack Up 15Ks in 4-3 Win

The Orioles Ace Tomoyuki Sugano

To start the young season, there hasn’t been much good to talk about when it comes to the Orioles starting rotation.  There’s been a few starts here and there that show promise, but a real lack of competitive performances strung together.

Tomoyuki Sugano has bucked the trend, and has been consistently the Orioles best pitcher, especially when you look at his last three outings including Monday April 28th, 2025 against the New York Yankees.  The date is important because it's the night that Tomoyuki Sugano truly arrived in the baseball world.

The Baltimore Orioles have been nothing, but bad news bears to start the season.  With the New York Yankees and larger than life Aaron Judge coming to town - people tend to side with… not the Yankees.  And Tomoyuki Sugano provided just the hero they needed to give the Orioles the boost they needed into the win column.

While true Orioles fans, and baseball heads will know that Sugano has been extremely effective at inducing weak contact to start the year, the lack of eye popping numbers might keep him a bit under the radar.  Sugano came into the night fresh off of 7 IP in each of his last two starts.

Sugano provided a great start against the Washington Nationals, where he came up just short against.

Against the Yankees, Sugano was nothing short of phenomenal.  While he didn’t go the distance, the 35 year old showed that he was keeping a few tricks hidden up his sleeve.  Sugano changed his approach, and aggressively challenged Yankees hitters.  The result?

• 5 Innings

• 5 Hits

• 1 Walk

• 8 Strikeouts

• 0 Runs

Sugano worked his sweeper the majority of the time to righties to get ahead.  To lefties he mixed in three pitches mainly: 4 seam fastball, splitter, and curveball.  Sugano worked in all 6 of his pitch mixes for Yankees hitters.  However it was good to see a change of pace from a pitcher that now seems to be on cruise control the first few starts of the season.

Veterans know how to reach back and get a bit extra in big spots, and that’s exactly what we saw from Tomoyuki Sugano on Monday night.  His 4 seam fastball averaged 93 mph, and topped out at 94.4 mph.  Both of which were well above his season average of 92.1 mph on the pitch.

Sugano was only able to go 5 innings, but he was able to work around the top of the Yankees lineup 3 times, taking pressure off of the Baltimore bullpen.

If you didn’t get a chance to watch the performance take a look at these two pitches to get two key strikeouts on Monday night:

Middle Relief Up and Down

Keegan Akin Lights Out, 3 Ks

Sugano passed off a 4-0 Orioles lead after 5 frames.  Keegan Akin came in to face the 5th, 6th, and 7th hitters Jazz Chisholm Jr., Anthony Volpe, and Austin Wells.  He struck out Chisholm on 4 straight sliders, painting the edges of the zone.

Anthony Volpe had the same fate, but took 8 pitches to take a seat.  Akin worked fastballs, and changeups to eventually setup a foul tip punch out of the young SS on a slider.  Austin Wells flew out on one pitch.  Akin was out of the 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts, and a flyout on 13 pitches.

Jasson Domínguez bats switch, but he does not hit left handers well.  Brandon Hyde elected to keep lefty Akin on the hill to deliver a third strikeout.  Akin worked fastballs and changeups to get the young Yankee on 4 pitches.

Akin has been one of the best options out of the Orioles bullpen on the year.  His ability to avoid hard contact makes him a solid option against different lineup configurations.  Akin posts a 2.57 ERA on the season over 14 innings pitched.  Looks for the veteran southpaw reliever to continue to be leaned on for a bit extra in special situations - like he did with his 1.1 IP on Monday.

Yennier Cano Bit of Bad Luck in Lukewarm Performance

Cano has been not getting work in games as of late.  The veteran right hander has not seen much time partly because the Orioles have not been in close games.  On Monday the righty was in a close game, but not too close by Orioles standards.  A 4 run lead is a pretty solid cushion.

Cano set to face the turn of the order with the 9 hitter leading the action after Domínguez strikeout.  Ramon Urias makes a play on the ball hit by Oswaldo Cabrera, and throws it away at first which proved to be a costly error.

Cano would allow a single to Trent Grisham a surprise overperformer for the Yankees, that would allow Cabrera to advance to third with none other than Aaron Judge stepping into the batter's box.  Cano has had pretty good matchups with Judge, both winning some.

This one went to Cano after 4 pitches, a sinker caused the three time MVP to ground into a force out to Ramon Urias.  Cabrera scored,  Judge beat the throw to first, and the Orioles gave up a run that probably should have been harder to come by.

Cano would be replaced by Gregory Soto to face Cody Bellinger. Soto would get Bellinger to hit a hard groundout to Jackson Holliday for the third out of the 7th inning.

Brandon Hyde Trusts Gregory Soto in Tough Spot

Brandon Hyde, the Orioles manager, made multiple key moves during this game.  The one that turned the head the most was the management of the bullpen in the 8th inning on Monday night against the Yankees.

Soto wasn’t great, but he did manage to work out of a jam against a tough Yankees lineup.  He gave up 2 earned runs, and allowed Paul Goldschmidt to advance to scoring position to be driven in by a Anthony Volpe line drive single.  And after a Austin Wells double, Orioles fans were calling for Hyde to yank the struggling reliever.

The skipper trusted his gameplan, and saw that Soto would be better to face off against the next two Yankee hitters, Jasson Domínguez and Oswaldo Cabrera.  Soto would strike out the 8 hitter, and get the 9 hitter to ground out.

And a 4-1 lead turned to a 4-3 lead, but Soto was able to work through a tough inning in a high pressure situation.  Hyde needs Soto to contribute, and he has the stuff.  And Soto had another call that threw him off a bit as he had the most impactful missed strike call against him per @UmpScorcards on X.

Soto had another key missed call in a recent appearance against the Washington Nationals.

It's good to see the vet get a bit of backing from his manager, and him to deliver. He will be a key piece to any Orioles team success.

Felix Bautista Gets Key Save, Strikeout of Aaron Judge

The game came down to the 9th inning with a one run lead, and probably the one guy in the whole MLB you don’t want coming up 2nd in Aaron Judge.

Felix Bautista was his electric self.  Getting two strikeouts, including the second of the day on Aaron Judge in a huge spot.

Bautista got the Yankees top 3 hitters in the lineup 1-2-3 to close out a much needed Orioles win.  Trent Grisham popped out on 3 sinkers.  Aaron Judge went down swinging in a tense battle of two of the biggest humans on earth.  Felix worked primarily splitters to get Judge swinging on 5 pitches.

The game ended against another MVP, Cody Bellinger.  Bautista struck him out on a foul tip where he worked his spittler, and sinker.

Look for Felix to rely more heavily on his splitter this season, as he and the Orioles pitching staff look to keep the flamethrower fresh.  Bautista topped out at 98+ in this start, and the Orioles will need him to be able to reach back for some extra in these big spots.

The Mountain delivers another signature save at Camden Yards.

Cedric Mullins the Unsung Orioles MVP, Ryan O’Hearn Key Vet

Mullins Highlight Joe Cool Catch Helps Keep Sugano Scoreless

Cedric Mullins has been one of the Orioles most consistent players to start the season.  Is anyone surprised?

The veteran center fielder made a game saving catch at the end of Sugano’s 5th frame that would have snuck over the wall for a two run homer.  Instead Ceddy kept the bad guys off the board.

Mullins added two hits and a walk in 4 plate appearances.  The veteran left handed hitter has been a key to any sort of stability in the Orioles lineup, and his preparedness in the field has allowed the Orioles management team to lean on Cedric Mullins.

Before the Yankees game - the Baltimore Orioles had a players lead meeting.  Cedric Mullins was reportedly an outspoken leader at that meeting.

As reported by Jacob Calvin Meyer of The Baltimore Sun via X -

“Cedric Mullins, in consultation with Ryan O'Hearn and other veterans, called the meeting for all position players.

‘We kind of just aired it out a little bit.’ - Cedric Mullins”

Obviously the Orioles are in need of veteran leadership.  That is true on the mound, in the field, and in the batter's box.

Look for Mullins to continue to be relied on in unseen ways by the Orioles brass.

Ryan O’Hearn Hits the Hydration Station

Ryan O’Hearn was another leader in that veteran players meeting.  And the once journeyman reclamation project now sees he’s one of the oldest guys on the team at 31 years old.

O’Hearn brought the boom stick tonight.  After back to back walks by Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman, O’Hearn sat on a sweeper over the middle to put the Orioles up 4-0 with a home run into the Camden Yards flag court during the bottom of the third inning.

The homer brought O’Hearn to 5 on the young season, but gave a calmness to a team that needed it.  And allowed three friends to have fun at the hydration station.  Part of the team meeting was that the Orioles needed to get back to their fun ways.

O’Hearn Caught on Hot Mic

Ryan O’Hearn and his fellow run scorers went to the Hydration Station, and unfortunately there was a broadcast mic that picked up some inappropriate language for TV.

Obviously the guys are just having a bit of fun, but during the postgame press - the veteran made a classy move to apologize to anyone that could have potentially heard what was not meant for the public's ears.

Good to see the guys have some fun, but also that O’Hearn understands his role on the team.  To lighten the mood a bit, but also know where the line is.

Take a look at the veteran left handed power hitter in the post game presser from last night:

Game 2 Preview - Kyle Gibson RHP 0-0, 0.00 ERA (Season Debut) vs. Carlos Rodón LHP 3-3, 3.50 ERA

Kyle Gibson Gets Ball on Familiar Mound - Brings Leadership

The Orioles are excited to welcome back a familiar face in a start against the Yankees on Tuesday night.  There’s no one more excited than Brandon Hyde.

The thing he’s most excited about? 

Brandon Hyde said in recent press that Gibson is “one of the best teammates” Hyde’s ever seen. “We’re getting a real leader and an adult in the room.”

With a staff that has seen some significant injuries from budding veterans.  Young pitchers like Cade Povich, Brandon Young, and Dean Kremer are looking for guidance from someone who’s in their shoes.

Tomoyuki Sugano can lead by example, but the language barrier prevents real connections from being made from a pretty unique perspective.

Gibson will understand how to add and release tension in a pitching room that has a lot of pressure on it.

Look for the Orioles to keep his start short as he continues to build up for a long season.