The Orioles used their home Opening Day to fish for compliments.
Fans had to be done complaining about a series split in Toronto and another injury. This was a time to party. The team was back at Camden Yards, the sun came out and players circled the bases in the first inning. The good times rolled, and no one got run over.
Cade Povich warmed to Eminem’s “The Real Slim Shady” and looked like the real deal with eight strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings, but the pitch count got him – 94 of them. Manager Brandon Hyde was left to piece together the rest.
The first four relievers combined for 3 2/3 scoreless innings and the Orioles had another offensive surge in the eighth in an 8-5 win over the Red Sox before an announced sellout crowd of 45.002.
Félix Bautista warmed with the Orioles ahead 4-3 and had to pitch the ninth, no longer in line for his first save since Aug. 24, 2023. He entered to Omar’s whistle and a rousing ovation, and he allowed two runs on a leadoff walk, wild pitch, Romy Gonzalez double and two-out broken-bat single by Jarren Duran. Rafael Devers walked but Alex Bregman popped up.
It didn’t matter. Two meaningless runs in a meaningful return.
“He’s gonna have certain things that are gonna be check marks along the way, and for him to get through that and then get the middle of the order out after, that was a big deal,” Hyde said.
“The crowd, it gave you goosebumps. I was just thinking about him the whole time. Two years ago when they started doing that it was pretty special and to hear that again, it was fun for everybody.”
And that includes owner David Rubenstein, who addressed the team in the clubhouse afterward.
“Special guest, special guest,” Hyde shouted.
“I think we have the best talent in baseball, I think you can go all the way,” Rubenstein said, “and I’m gonna do everything I can to help you.”
Bautista followed Matt Bowman (two-thirds), who was working on consecutive days, Seranthony Domínguez (one), Keegan Akin (one) and Yennier Cano (one). The only hit came against Bowman.
Tyler O’Neill had four hits in his home debut, including a leadoff single in the eighth. Ryan Mountcastle reached on an infield hit, the runners advanced on Bregman’s throwing error and Heston Kjerstad singled to score O’Neill for a 5-3 lead. Pinch-runner Jorge Mateo stole second base, Dylan Carlson walked to load the bases and Cedric Mullins singled on a ball that deflected off Cooper Criswell and plated two more runs.
Jackson Holliday also had an RBI single on an opposite-field hit. Orange rally towels were waved, and for at least one day, the Orioles bid farewell to all the negativity.
“The weather report going into today, too, was so dicey from 4 o’clock on,” Hyde said. “You weren’t sure if we were gonna play five or nine. You’re hoping for the best. Those of us who have been around here for a while know you can just never know here. There’s pop-up storms, and we got lucky and it stayed away from us. Kind of a weird morning with a lot going on, (Colton) Cowser news and everything else with uncertainty of the game today. It worked out beautifully for us.”
O’Neill tied his career high with four hits, and his eight hits this year are the most by an Oriole through the first four games with the club since José Iglesias in 2020. He feasts on Opening Days, home and road.
“I’m not thinking too much of it in any type of way,” he said. “I just really try to feel the energy, the crowd, experience the city of Baltimore, and it was awesome out there today. There’s definitely a buzz with the fans. Obviously, we believe in ourselves as players and it was just a good win overall today.
“It was really cool out there. Running down the (orange) carpet, that was very special. It’s cool to see the Opening Day ceremonies in every park. Hopefully, that’s something in my plans for a long time. Really, really excited what we’ve got going on here in Baltimore, and that energy’s going to be fun to play in front of all year.”
The bottom of the first inning began with consecutive singles by Jordan Westburg, Adley Rutschman, O’Neill and Mountcastle to give the Orioles a 2-0 lead. An odd inning for Red Sox starter Sean Newcomb included back-to-back strikeouts of Kjerstad and Ramón Laureano and Mullins’ two-run double to center field. Ramón Urías also struck out, but the Orioles led 4-0.
Mullins’ 10 RBIs are his most in a five-game span. He joins Chris Davis in 2013 and Charles Johnson in 2000 as only Orioles to collect 10 or more in the first five games.
“Ced’s playing with a ton of life right now,” Hyde said. “All our best baseball’s always been when Ced’s going.”
The crowd cheered Mullins all day, as if wondering whether he’d be next to leave as a free agent and wanting to make sure that he felt loved.
“It was really cool,” Mullins said. “Just taking a step back, enjoy the moment, have some fun with it.”
Mullins reached second base, grabbed his imaginary fishing pole and cast his line into the dugout. Players pretended to be pulled over the railing. It was a synchronized work of art.
This was home Opening Day in peak form.
Injured outfielder Colton Cowser jogged onto the field from the dugout for his pregame introduction, the crowd serenading him with “moooooos.” Bautista received the loudest ovation among the non-starters as he jogged down the orange carpet, but Rutschman gave The Mountain a run for his money.
Anthem singer and Baltimore native Gabby Samone gave the crowd chills.
Maryland basketball freshman star Derik Queen sailed his ceremonial first pitch over Ryan O’Hearn’s head, and not because he’s from Baltimore. Dean Kremer did a nice frame job for Allie Kubek. Julian Reese and Shyanne Sellers hit their expanded targets.
Improvements to the sound system were noticeable. Every word spoken by pregame ceremony emcee Kevin Brown could be heard from the press box.
The Red Sox weren’t going away quietly.
They worked Povich for 72 pitches in three innings and narrowed the lead to 4-3 on Duran’s two-run triple in the second and Kristian Campbell’s RBI grounder in the third after one-out singles by Rob Refsnyder and Trevor Story. Laureano’s throwing error allowed Refsnyder to take second base and remove the double play possibility, which was followed by Campbell’s hard grounder.
Laureano had a rough day in his first start. He also struck out and failed to catch a foul ball after appearing to run it down.
Povich worked around a walk and single in the first by striking out two. He began the second with a walk and single, struck out two and surrendered Duran’s triple to the angled portion of the fence in left-center. In need of a quicker inning, he retired the side in order in the fourth on 15 pitches.
“Cade’s got really good stuff,” Hyde said. “Unfortunately, he just throws a lot of pitches at times, and if we can get those 20-plus misses that are in there, sharpen him up just a little bit from a command standpoint, go five, six, into the seventh inning … But for a kid making his first Opening Day start, making the team out of camp, pitching with that energy in the ballpark, to be able to control his nerves and to be able to be calm throughout, I thought he pitched extremely well.”
Povich, at 24 years and 353 days, is the second-youngest Oriole behind Brad Bergesen on April 9, 2010 to start a home opener since 1971.
Nerves “were definitely there,” he said. “Early on in the first and before the game, probably felt it a little bit, but then after we got rolling, calmed down a little bit.
“It was definitely really cool. Obviously first time experiencing an Opening Day here. It was definitely an awesome experience. Probably up there with the debut.”
Double plays bailed out Newcomb in the second, third and fourth. Holliday singled and was caught stealing in the second.
O’Neill doubled with two outs in the fifth and Mountcastle flied out. Urías led off the seventh with his second single, but plate umpire Chris Guccione, who squeezed Domínguez in the top half of the inning, punched out Holliday on a sinker below the zone and the next two batters flied out.
The Orioles kept stuffing the bases and finally were able to pad their lead in the eighth.
The offense hit six home runs on Opening Day and 10 overall in Toronto, but went station-to-station today while spraying the ball to all fields and being aggressive on the bases. Both ways work. It’s scored 12, nine and eight runs in three of the games.
“It’s a representation of having a dynamic lineup,” O’Neill said. “Obviously, we can slug, we can run, we’ve got a lot of speedsters on this team. We can use the whole field collectively. It’s just a really fun offense to be a part of.”
“It’s something we’re gonna have to do,” Hyde said. “We’re gonna have to do both and be able to win different ways multiple nights. We’re gonna hit our homers. I’m not worried about that. I like us putting the ball in play and makings things happen. We’re athletic, we can run, we can do certain things, and when our guys stay on the baseball like they did today for the most part and use the whole field, good things happen.”
All that remained after the eighth was the whistle, the hype video, and a few more chances for the crowd to rise and shout.
“That was pretty cool,” O’Neill said. “Every team’s got their own thing in the ninth inning and that was cool to be on the home side of that. It’s definitely more fun being behind him than in the batter’s box, so we’re gonna continue that.”
“I just thought that was an amazing atmosphere today,” Hyde said. “Very cool in the home opener to have that crowd, energy, support. Really cool for Félix to feel that, to feel the love from Baltimore fans. The energy in the ballpark today was fantastic. I thought our guys played really well.”
