BALTIMORE ORIOLES NOTES:
BURNING RUBBER: The Orioles square off against the Red Sox in a rubber match this afternoon, with the opening series tied at one game apiece…The O’s went 11-11 in rubber games in 2022…Baltimore is looking to win their opening series for the first time since 2021, when they swept Boston in three games at Fenway Park.
RUNNIN’ WILD: The Orioles have stolen 10 bases through their first two games, the most by a team in its first two games of a season since at least 1901, surpassing the previous record of nine stolen bases held by the 1976 Cincinnati Reds and the 1983 Los Angeles Dodgers…The 10 stolen bases are also the most in any two-game span in team history, surpassing the nine stolen bases from August 28 (G2) to August 29 (G1), 1986…Jorge Mateo (4 SB), Cedric Mullins (3 SB), and Adam Frazier, Austin Hays, and Ryan McKenna (1 SB) make up the 10 steals for the O’s.
Mateo is the first player in O’s history (since 1954) and the eighth MLB player since at least 1901 with multiple stolen bases in each of a team’s first two games to begin a season (see chart at right).
BIG TIME RUTSCH: According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Adley Rutschman is the first player in O’s history to reach base safely in his first seven plate appearances to start a season…He began the year 6-for-6 with a home run, two runs scored, four RBI, and a walk before his streak ended with a groundout in the second inning of yesterday’s game.
GETTING OFFENSIVE: The Orioles have scored 18 runs through the first two games of the season, tied with the 1973 team for the second-most in team history, behind only the 2006 club with 25 runs scored through the first two games…The 18 runs are tied with the Red Sox for the second-most in a team’s first two games of the 2023 season, trailing only the Texas Rangers with 27 runs scored in their first two contests.
ROSTER BREAKDOWN: The Orioles opened the 2023 season with 13 pitchers and 13 position players on the active roster…Six players made their first career Opening Day roster: Kyle Bradish, Logan Gillaspie, Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman, Kyle Stowers, and Terrin Vavra…Fifteen of the 26 players were on Baltimore’s Opening Day roster in 2022…James McCann begins the season on the 10-day Injured List, Mychal Givens and Dillon Tate begin the year on the 15-day Injured List, and John Means begins the year on the 60-day Injured List.
THE SKIPPER: Manager Brandon Hyde returns for his fifth season…In 2022, he led the O’s to an 83-79 record, his first winning season as manager and the club’s first winning campaign since 2016…He was named the Baseball America MLB Manager of the Year and was voted the Sporting News American League Manager of the Year by fellow AL managers…He finished second in voting for the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) American League Manager of the Year award…Hyde was named the 20th manager in Orioles history on December 14, 2018.
COACHING STAFF: The Orioles announced their 2023 Major League Coaching Staff on November 8, 2022…The club named Cody Asche (ASH-ee) Offensive Strategy Coach… Ryan Klimek (KLIM-ick) enters his first full season on the Major League Staff as Pitching Strategy Coach…All other coaches remain in their same positions: Matt Borgschulte (BORG-shult-ee) and Ryan Fuller as Co-Hitting Coaches, Tim Cossins as Major League Field Coordinator/Catching Instructor, Fredi González as Bench Coach, José Hernández as Major League Coach, Darren Holmes as Assistant Pitching Coach, Chris Holt as Pitching Coach/Director of Pitching, Tony Mansolino as Third Base Coach, and Anthony Sanders as First Base Coach.
NEW NUMBER, WHO DIS?: Several members of the 2022 Orioles team will have new jersey numbers for the 2023 season: Kyle Bradish (No. 56 in 2022) is now No. 39…Kyle Stowers switches from No. 83 to No. 28…Terrin Vavra switches from No. 77 to No. 23… Additionally, Offensive Strategy Coach Cody Asche will wear No. 61 after wearing No. 63 in Spring Training.
RISING TIDE: The Orioles are ranked as the No. 1 farm system by MLB Pipeline…Marks the fourth consecutive time between the preseason and midseason lists that the O’s are in the top spot…Since Pipeline began ranking systems in 2015, only one other organization has claimed the top spot four times in a row, and that was the Padres (2018 pre/mid, 2019 pre/mid)…Baltimore is also ranked as the No. 1 farm system by ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel, as well as in Baseball America’s preseason rankings for the first time since the publication began their Organizational Talent Rankings in 1984…The Orioles have nine prospects in ESPN’s Top 100 (see chart at right), eight in the Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, and MLB Pipeline rankings, and six according to FanGraphs…Gunnar Henderson enters the season as the No. 1 overall prospect by Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, ESPN, FanGraphs, and MLB Pipeline.
STARTING PITCHER – #19 COLE IRVIN LHP
QUICK HITS: Making his Orioles debut…Spent the 2022 season with the Oakland Athletics…Led the team in wins (9), starts (30), innings pitched (181.0), and strikeouts (128)…Posted career-lows in ERA (3.98), opponent batting average (.251), on-base percentage (.293), slugging
percentage (.416), and OPS (.709)…Allowed two earned runs or fewer in 17 of his 30 starts…Acquired by the Orioles along with RHP Kyle Virbitsky from Oakland in exchange for SS Darell Hernaiz on January 26, 2023…Originally selected by the Phillies in the fifth round of the 2016 First-Year Player Draft out of Oregon.
CAREER AGAINST BOSTON: Making his third career appearance (second start) against Boston and his first since July 3, 2021, when he did not factor into the decision after allowing four runs (2 ER) on five hits (1 HR) with two walks and five strikeouts in 7.0 innings…He is 0-0 with a 2.00 ERA (2 ER/9.0 IP) and five strikeouts in his career against Boston… Will be his first career appearance at Fenway Park.
AGAINST THE AL EAST: Making his 11th career start (12th appearance) against the AL East…Owns a 4-4 record with a 3.71 ERA (26 ER/63.0 IP) through his first 11 appearances…Started against AL East foes four times in 2022, going 2-1 with a 3.42 ERA (10 ER/26.1 IP) with 15 strikeouts….Faced the Orioles in Oakland on April 19, allowing one run on six hits with four strikeouts to two walks in 5.0 innings of work…Earned the win in his last start against the division on July 4 vs. Toronto.
HIT IT IF YOU CAN: Irvin relied on his four-seam fastball more than any other pitch in 2022, throwing it 36.1 percent of the time…Opposing batters slashed .222/.263/.387 (51-for-230) against his primary pitch, meaning that he recorded more strikeouts (69) by way of the heater than hits allowed (51)…Irvin induced 121 swings and misses on 941 fastballs for a 12.8 percent swing-and-miss rate.
SPRING TRAINING: Pitched to a 3.14 ERA (5 ER/14.1 IP) in four Spring Training starts for the Orioles…Earned his first win in orange and black on March 16 vs. Toronto, allowing two runs on six hits with three strikeouts in 4.1 innings of work…Allowed one home run in Spring Training.
2022 HIGHLIGHTS: Made his third straight Opening Day roster… Notched career highs in strikeouts (128) and innings (181.0), while his 15 quality starts tied a career-high…Recorded a career-high three consecutive wins from July 15-27…Tallied a career-high 11 strikeouts on August 24 vs. Miami and threw a career-best 105 pitches in his next start on August 30 at Washington…Earned his 20th career win on September 11 vs. Chicago-AL…Tossed 6.0 innings or more in 10 consecutive starts from June 29 to August 19…Went 4-1 with a 1.85 ERA (7 ER/34.0 IP) with 22 strikeouts in five starts in July…Snapped his career-high five-game losing streak on July 4 vs. Toronto.
BOSTON RED SOX NOTES:
STATE OF THE SOX: The Red Sox beat the Orioles yesterday, 9-8, on Adam Duvall’s walk-off 2-run HR in the 9th inning. Yesterday was the Sox’ 1st walk-off win since 9/1/22 vs. TEX (Refsnyder RBI single)…It was their first walkoff HR since 5/22/22 vs. SEA (Cordero grand slam). It was just the 2nd time in the last 60 years the Sox have won on a walk-off in one of their first 2 games in a season (also 4/5/17 vs. PIT).
COMEBACK KIDS: The Red Sox trailed 7-1 yesterday after the top of the 3rd inning…They outscored the Orioles 8-1 over the rest of the game.
The 6-run deficit was the largest the Sox have overcome to win since 8/18/19 vs. BAL (trailed 6-0; won 13-7).
DUV-ALL OVER: Adam Duvall’s walk-off, 2-run HR yesterday was the 1st walk-off HR of the 2023 MLB season. The only other player in Red Sox history to hit a walkoff HR in their 1st or 2nd game with the team was Jake Jones on 6/15/1947 vs. CWS-G2 (source: Elias). Duvall became the 1st player in MLB history to come to the plate needing a single to complete the cycle and hit a walk-off HR instead (source: Opta Stats).
HAVE A DAY, KID: Adam Duvall went 4-for-5 yesterday with 3 runs scored, a double, a triple, 2 HR and 5 RBI, setting career highs in total bases (13) and extra-base hits… It was his 5th career 4-hit game (previous: 5/13/21 at ATL). Yesterday was Duvall’s 12th career multi-homer game (previous: 6/12/22 vs. PIT) and his 8th game with 5+ RBI (previous: 6 RBI on 6/17/21 at CHC with MIA).
MOST RBI IN RED SOX’ FIRST 2 GAMES OF A SEASON
Player RBI SEASON
Adam Duvall 6 2023
Carlton Fisk 6 1973
Bobby Doerr 6 1941
OPENING ACT: The Sox have scored 18 runs over the first 2 games of 2023, tied with the Orioles for 2nd-most among any team through their first 2 games of this season (TEX-27). The last time the Red Sox scored 9+ runs in each of their first 2 games of a season was 1995 (9 R on 4/26 vs. MIN; 10 R on 4/28 vs. CWS). The Sox have recorded at least 11 hits in each of their first 2 games of a season for the first time since 2013 (13 H on 4/1 at NYY; 14 H on 4/3 at NYY).
THE NEW GUYS: Eleven members of the Red Sox’ Opening Day roster or injured list were not in the organization during the 2022 season (see below). 6 players made their first career Opening Day roster: 1B Triston Casas, RHP Zack Kelly, RHP Kaleb Ort, RHP Josh Winckowski, C Connor Wong, and OF Masataka Yoshida.
RED SOX OFF-SEASON ACQUISITIONS
ON OPENING DAY ROSTER OR INJURED LIST
Player Acquired Date
LHP Joely Rodriguez Free Agent 11/23
RHP Chris Martin Free Agent 12/8
RHP Kenley Jansen Free Agent 12/13
OF Masataka Yoshida Free Agent 12/15
RHP Wyatt Mills Trade with KC 12/16
INF Justin Turner Free Agent 1/6
RHP Corey Kluber Free Agent 1/12
OF Raimel Tapia Minor League Free Agent 1/21
OF Adam Duvall Free Agent 1/24
INF Adalberto Mondesi Trade with KC 1/24
LHP Richard Bleier Trade with MIA 1/30
BATTLE TESTED: Of the 26 players on the Red Sox’ Opening Day roster, 8 have won a World Series title: Ryan Brasier (BOS), Rafael Devers (BOS), Chris Sale (BOS), Kiké Hernández (LAD), Kenley Jansen (LAD), Justin Turner (LAD), Adam Duvall (ATL), and Chris Martin (ATL).
SOX & O’S: This is the 3rd time in the last 4 years the Red Sox have opened their regular season with a series against the Orioles (14th time overall)…This is the 5th time the Sox have opened vs. BAL at home (also 1956, ‘66, 2020, ‘21). The Red Sox have won 6 of their last 8 games vs. BAL, beginning 9/10/22…They are 66-41 (.617) against the O’s since the start of 2017.
THE BIG DANCE: The NCAA men’s basketball national championship game will feature 2 schools attended by Red Sox coaches: the University of Connecticut and San Diego State University. Hitting Coach Pete Fatse played 3 seasons at the University of Connecticut (2007-09). Assistant Hitting Coach Ben Rosenthal played 2 seasons at San Diego State University (2000-01).
MACHO MAN: Masataka Yoshida became the first position player born in Japan to play for the Red Sox on Opening Day. Yoshida has hit from the 4th spot in the lineup in each of his first 2 career games…He is the just the 3rd player in the last 80 seasons to bat 4th for the Red Sox in each of his first 2 MLB games, joining Brandon Moss in 2007 and Mike Greenwell in 1985.
RED SOX PLAYERS BORN IN JAPAN
Player Year(s)
OF Dave Roberts…………..2004
RHP Tomo Ohka ….. 1999-2001
RHP Hideo Nomo ………….2001
RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka … 2007-12
LHP Hideki Okajima … 2007-11
Player Year(s)
RHP Takashi Saito………….2009
RHP Junichi Tazawa…. 2009, ‘11-16
RHP Koji Uehara……… 2013-16
RHP Hirokazu Sawamura…. 2021-22
OF Masataka Yoshida ….2023
FOREVER AND DEVERS: Rafael Devers made his 6th consecutive Opening Day start at 3B for the Red Sox… The only other players with 6 Opening Day starts at 3B for the Sox are Wade Boggs (10), Frank Malzone (9), Jimmy Collins (7), Larry Gardner (6), and Rico Petrocelli (6).
TODAY’S STARTER: 89 TANNER HOUCK – RHP
Made the Red Sox’ Opening Day roster for the 3rd consecutive season. Is 2-1 with a 1.84 ERA (3 ER/14.2 IP) in 5 career outings (1 start) vs. BAL. Allowed 3 ER or fewer in 31 of his 32 outings in 2022. Has gone 4-6 with a 3.02 ERA in 20 career starts…His last start came on 5/8/22 vs. CWS (2.2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 SO). During his career, has held RHH to a .199 AVG/.528 OPS (80-for-302) and LHH to a .232 AVG/.676 OPS (52-for-224). Underwent a successful lumbar discectomy
