Cole Irvin was nervous heading into Thursday’s season-opening game at Fenway Park, even though the left-hander’s Orioles debut wasn’t coming for a few more days. The start of each campaign, he said, brings that anxiousness.
It hadn’t left Irvin by the time he took the mound for Baltimore the first time Sunday, and he felt that was evident in how he pitched against the Boston Red Sox. In four-plus innings, Irvin surrendered six runs as the Orioles dropped the finale of their opening series, 9-5, becoming the first major league team since 2005 to allow at least nine runs in each of the season’s first three games.
“We just didn’t have our best series on the mound and need to improve on that,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “But I think we will.”
Irvin does, too, pointing to how he wasn’t at his best in his initial starts the past two years for the Oakland Athletics but still managed to average almost 180 innings over those seasons. Traded to Baltimore this offseason alongside a minor league pitcher for top 15 prospect Darell Hernaiz, Irvin’s first inning as an Oriole set the tone for his day.
An infield hit, a soft single and an uncharacteristic walk loaded the bases with no outs, with Masataka Yoshida’s grounder plating the game’s first run. Irvin prevented further damage in the frame, but he required 32 pitches to get through the inning on a day the Orioles’ bullpen was limited.
“It’s the first start of the year, so there’s a lot of adrenaline and anxiousness and all that stuff going into that first inning,” Irvin said. “Walks are something I don’t like doing, a couple of those, weak contact hits just kind of were the tale of that inning. I put myself in a hole early.”
Kiké Hernández homered off Irvin in the second, and with Irvin an out from a clean third, Adam Duvall doubled then scored on a single by Alex Verdugo. Duvall, who signed with Boston this offseason well on his way to joining a list of Baltimore terrorizers around the American League East, one that as of late has included Gleyber Torres, Randal Grichuk and Randy Arozarena, after going 8-for-14 with three doubles, a triple and two home runs in the series. That performance included a walk-off home run Saturday after Orioles left fielder Ryan McKenna dropped what would have been a game-ending flyball with two outs in the ninth.
That play kept the Orioles from claiming a series victory Saturday, but they still had a chance Sunday. After Irvin worked a scoreless fourth, the Orioles tied the game on home runs from Adam Frazier — another of Baltimore’s offseason acquisitions — and Cedric Mullins. But Boston got those three runs right back, opening the fifth with three hits off Irvin, two of them hit softly, before Duvall scored two with a single off reliever Bryan Baker.
“Just one of those days where I thought I was making the right pitches except for maybe the one to Hernández that he hit out,” Irvin said. “Was making good pitches and just got kind of singled to death.”
Baltimore got back within a run after Mullins’ two-run single against former Oriole Richard Bleier, continuing Mullins’ early success against left-handed pitchers, but the Orioles’ bullpen surrendered three more runs, giving up 12 runs in the series.
That’s also the total number of innings Baltimore got from its starters in the three games. Along with adding Irvin to their rotation, the Orioles signed veteran Kyle Gibson to a one-year, $10 million deal, the largest guarantee they have given to a free agent since 2018. Selected as the team’s opening day starter, Gibson worked into the sixth Thursday having allowed only two runs before two runners he left on for the bullpen eventually scored. Incumbent starter Dean Kremer was given a six-run lead on Saturday then surrendered a pair of two-run home runs in the third and he lasted only three innings.
The Orioles’ pitching staff was an unexpected strength in last season’s 83-79 finish, and they’ll need a strong performance again to achieve their goal of reaching the playoffs. Baltimore is already down two of its key relievers, with setup man Dillon Tate (right elbow flexor strain) and free-agent acquisition Mychal Givens (left knee inflammation) starting the season on the injured list. Regardless, Mullins said he believes the staff will pitch better before long.
“They’re way better [than this],” Mullins said. “I know these guys work hard, and it’s just one of those things where today they had a good amount of soft hits right over the infield, and it hurt us, but I know that, coming in the near future, they’ll be able to lock it in and put some zeros on the board.”
The pitchers weren’t helped by poor outfield defense, with McKenna’s drop joining misreads and poor routes throughout the series. The Orioles’ struggles in those facets largely wasted an impressive offensive weekend. Adley Rutschman and Austin Hays both recorded five-hit games. Top prospect Gunnar Henderson has yet to record a hit, but his six walks tie Cal Ripken Jr. for the most through three games in team history. Their 10 steals entering Sunday set a major league record for a club’s first two games. Frazier has hits in five of his first eight at-bats with Baltimore, with three doubles and a home run.
“I’m disappointed, but at the same time, I understand it’s a long season,” Irvin said. “We’ve got a lot of starts and a lot of games to go, so just got to keep chugging along.”
Orioles at Rangers
Monday, 8:05 p.m.
TV: MASN2
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
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