ARLINGTON, Texas – With a large rooting section from his hometown of Nacogdoches, Texas, in the stands today, Orioles right-hander Grayson Rodriguez made a strong big league debut in his home state. But it didn’t start out great for him. 

After allowing two runs and giving up some loud contact in the Rangers' first inning, he settled in nicely and at times looked very much like what he is: one of baseball’s best pitching prospects. And the pitcher who has gone 25-9 with a 2.49 ERA in 70 games on the Baltimore farm. The pitcher ranked No. 6 in the Baseball America top 100 and No. 7 by MLBPipeline.com.

He struggled as games got deeper in spring training, but not today.

Texas went 2-for-5 against him in its two-run first inning, then just 2-for-14 from the second through the fifth inning.

Right-hander Austin Voth replaced him to start the sixth in a 2-2 tie. But Texas third baseman Josh Jung took him to the opposite field for a two-run shot to right. That blast was enough for the Rangers to go on to win this one 5-2 as the Orioles failed to sweep the series.

ARLINGTON, Texas – O’s rookie right-hander Grayson Rodriguez, ranked as the No. 6 prospect in the sport by Baseball America and No. 7 via MLBPipeline.com, today makes his long-anticipated major league debut. Rodriguez will face two-time National League Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom as the Orioles and Texas Rangers conclude a three-game series at Globe Life Field.

After wins of 2-0 and 7-2, the O’s can sweep this series today and beat Texas for the ninth straight time, going back to last year. Baltimore pitching has thrown 18 innings this series, allowing just eight hits and two runs with two walks and 15 strikeouts.

The Orioles (3-2) begin play today tied with the New York Yankees for second in the American League East, two games behind unbeaten and division-leading Tampa Bay at 5-0. Boston and Toronto are 2-3.

Rodriguez had some struggles in spring training and posted a 7.04 ERA over 15 1/3 innings. It looked like he would break north with the team in the Opening Day rotation to start the year, but instead he was optioned to the minors and made one start for Triple-A Norfolk. But due to the injury to Kyle Bradish, who was placed on the injured list today, here he is already, ready to debut, and in his home state of Texas.

He made his Triple-A season debut in Norfolk’s season opener at Durham last Friday night, allowing three runs (two earned) over four innings. He was scheduled to pitch tomorrow for the Tides at home, but now that plan has changed. Rodriguez will be pitching on normal rest today.

ARLINGTON, Tex. – Before we get to today's game, the Orioles annouced before game time today that their scheduled home opener tomorrow with the New York Yankees has been postponed until Friday at 3:05 p.m.

An Orioles tweet said: "After consultation with MLB, tomorrow's home opener at Oriole Park at Camden Yards has been postponed due to the forecast of severe inclement weather."

Meanwhile, there is, no doubt, a buzz around the Orioles today on the occasion of Grayson Rodriguez’s major league debut. As some of the gates opened earlier at Globe Life Field, some friends from his high school days in Nagodoches, Texas were already in the stands. Several O’s players discussed how excited they are to see one of baseball’s top prospects take the mound.

Manager Brandon Hyde said today he is confident that Kyle Bradish will be back when his stint on the injured list is up. So is this a potential one-off for Rodriguez today, or does he stay in the rotation?

“That’s the one thing we are excited about, is that we have depth and we have talent,” said Hyde. “The one thing that wins in this league is depth. We’re going to see how it goes. You’re not going to break with five starters and have those five starters pitch all year. Things happen. We didn’t expect Kyle Bradish to get hit on the foot. He had great stuff the other night. We’re just going to kind of watch a little bit. See how the next week and a half, two weeks go and go from there.

ARLINGTON, Tex. – Sometimes in baseball it is said that momentum can be hard for a team to build because it is only as good as the next day’s starting pitcher. Meaning someone can shut you down and beat you. In the case of the Orioles the next day’s starter built on what happened the previous day in a twist on the phrase.

When asked about his strong seven-inning start last night as the Orioles beat Texas 7-2, right-hander Kyle Gibson first spent quite some time talking about the job Tyler Wells did the night before when Kyle Bradish got hurt. The Orioles were still marveling yesterday at Wells’ performance to bolster the pitching staff Monday night in the series-opening 2-0 win.

“I don’t think we can say enough about what Tyler Wells did for this team (Monday) night,” said Gibson. “That set us up for me not needing to go seven innings tonight. I was thankful I was able to do it, but what a job by him. When I found out he was going in, they asked me if I could throw (yesterday) and that’s a no brainer. If Wellsy can step up and do that I can take my turn the next day. Anytime a starter can get to the seventh, I think it’s big for the bullpen. I told Hyder I could go another one and try to save one more inning, but he said they were fresh enough down there and handed the ball off.”

The Orioles realized what Wells did Monday was pretty special in how he stepped up and Gibson said good teams need such things.

“It’s necessary, right,” he said. “There is something on the line behind the scenes like every time a guy is on the mound. That put him in a tough spot - he is not staying on routine, mentally he is not locked in when Hyder asked him that. But it shows a lot about his routine and how he stays prepared. He had done a really good job of staying prepared and ready. I think that is what this team is all about – we’ve got a lot of young guys that have really good heads on their shoulders and understand that if they start the game on the bench, they are one play away from being out there. Hats off to him. That gave us a lot of momentum going into today.”

ARLINGTON, Texas – As news surfaced before first pitch tonight that rookie right-hander Grayson Rodriguez was expected to make his major league debut on Wednesday afternoon for the Orioles, the club prepared to take the field against Texas. They were looking for a series win and to follow up last night’s uplifting shutout victory over the Rangers.

And they got the win and made it look rather easy, beating Texas 7-2 for their first 2023 win that did not come by either one or two runs. The Orioles improved to 3-2 tonight and Texas falls to 3-2. After sweeping defending National League champion Philadelphia to start their year, the Rangers could get swept in this series by the Orioles.

Just before the game started, multiple outlets reported that the Orioles would call up Rodriguez to make his big league debut in tomorrow afternoon’s series finale.

Rodriguez, 23, the No. 6 prospect in the sport per Baseball America, would be facing Texas right-hander Jacob deGrom, a pitcher with a career 2.55 ERA and two Cy Young Awards. He would also be pitching in his home state for his debut. The O’s drafted him in Round 1 (No. 11 overall) in the 2018 draft out of a high school in Nacogdoches, Texas.

Rodriguez was considered likely to break north with the Orioles in the Opening Day starting rotation, but late in camp was sent back to the minors after pitching to a spring ERA of 7.04 over 15 1/3 innings. He made his Triple-A season debut in Norfolk’s season opener at Durham last Friday night, allowing three runs (two earned) over four innings. He was scheduled to pitch this Thursday for the Tides at home, but now that plan has changed. Rodriguez would be pitching on normal rest tomorrow.

ARLINGTON, Texas – After their four-pitcher one-hitter in the series opener here Monday night, the Orioles look for a series-clinching win tonight at Globe Life Field versus the Texas Rangers.

The Orioles (2-2) got solo homers from Gunnar Henderson and Jorge Mateo in Monday’s 2-0 win, in which four hurlers combined to need just 108 pitches in the first Baltimore one-hitter since a 4-1 win at the Chicago White Sox on June 24, 2022.

Right-hander Tyler Wells threw five no-hit innings on 47 pitches as the Orioles won their seventh straight game versus Texas, going back to last season. Baltimore starter Kyle Bradish took a liner off his right foot, suffered a contusion, and had to leave the game in last of the second inning after pitching 1 2/3.

Then the Baltimore bullpen, featuring Danny Coulombe, Wells and Félix Bautista went 7 1/3 scoreless without allowing a hit and Texas, which was 1-for-29 batting on the night, was 0-for-23 against the O’s bullpen, which had an ERA of 5.93 in the Boston series.

Last night marked the first time in Orioles history that the bullpen worked at least seven no-hit innings in a game. The previous record was six hitless innings, done twice: Sept. 8, 2011 against the Yankees and June 24, 2022 at the White Sox.

ARLINGTON, Texas – The Orioles got through a tough spot last night because right-hander Tyler Wells and two of his teammates saved the day in the 2-0 win over the Texas Rangers. When right-hander Kyle Bradish left last night’s game early, the Orioles put the wheels in motion in thinking about piecing together last night’s nine innings and about tonight’s outing. During the Monday game, they were already leaning toward having Opening Day starter Kyle Gibson pitch tonight.

But now comes the decision about the starter here tomorrow afternoon in the series finale at Texas. The O’s still have not made a decision on what they will do. They could use Austin Voth if he doesn’t pitch tonight. They could call someone up from the minor leagues to make the start.

“We’re still in discussions about tomorrow,” manager Brandon Hyde said today in the Baltimore dugout. “We’re going to get through tonight and then go from there.”

At Triple-A, DL Hall is scheduled to pitch Norfolk’s home opener tonight. Drew Rom is listed for Wednesday, Grayson Rodriguez for Thursday and Bruce Zimmermann on Saturday.

Hyde was asked if it’s too soon to call up Rodriguez after the organization decided to option him to the minors to begin the season. Rodriguez pitched to a 7.04 ERA in 15 1/3 spring innings. He went four innings, allowing three runs (two earned) in the Tides' season opener last Friday. He would be on regular rest for a start tomorrow.

ARLINGTON, Tex. – Well, that was unexpected and unlikely but most welcome.

An Orioles pitching staff that had allowed nine runs three straight games completely reversed its fortunes last night deep in the heart of Texas. They threw a four-pitcher, one-hitter at Globe Life Field. Against a Texas team that was 3-0 and leading all of MLB with 29 runs scored.

Last night Texas went 1-for-29 for the night and 0-for-24 after Josh Jung’s infield single with one out in the second inning. It was the fewest hits allowed by the Orioles since they one-hit the Chicago White Sox on the road on June 24, 2022.

The pitching game plan had to call an early audible when starter Kyle Bradish took a liner off his right foot. He suffered a contusion, but preliminary X-rays were negative for a fracture. We should get an update later today at the ballpark.

Lefty Danny Coulombe came in and got four outs, three against lefty hitters. In the dugout, Tyler Wells was not dressed in full uniform because he wasn’t scheduled to pitch until tonight. But he told Brandon Hyde to use him if needed and Hyde took him up on the offer. Grab that jersey quick.

ARLINGTON, Tex. – The Orioles starting rotation, which covered just 12 innings in three games at Boston to start the year, got another short start today. But this one had nothing to do with the pitcher’s performance.

Right-hander Kyle Bradish, who went 4-7 with a 4.90 ERA last season, took a line drive off his right foot. One-time O’s draft pick Jonan Heim drilled the comebacker at 104 mph. It knocked Bradish off his feet and out of this game. The ball was hit so hard it caromed to first baseman Ryan Mountcastle who recorded an out on the play.

Lefty reliever Danny Coulombe hurried into the game and faced a second and third, two outs situation. And he struck out lefty-hitting Brad Miller on a slider to keep the game 0-0 to end the second inning.

The O’s had big hopes this year for Bradish, in large part to his strong finish to the 2022 season. Over his last 13 starts of the year, beginning in late July, he went 3-3 with a 3.28 ERA. In his last eight starts, he threw four quality starts, going 3-2 with a 2.76 ERA and .500 OPS against.

In Boston, Opening Day starter Kyle Gibson’s five innings was the longest outing by the rotation, which allowed 20 hits and 15 runs over 12 innings. That forced the O’s bullpen to throw 13 2/3 innings in that series and they will be needed heavily again tonight.

ARLINGTON, Tex. – After losing two of three at Boston and allowing nine runs each game, the Orioles will look for immediate improvement in their pitching and defense tonight. Baltimore opens a three-game series at Globe Life Field against the Rangers.

The O’s scored 23 runs but allowed 27 at Boston and lost the last two days to the Red Sox by 9-8 and 9-5 scores.

Tonight right-hander Kyle Bradish (4-7, 4.90 ERA in 2022) will make his 2023 season debut. Bradish pitched 117 2/3 last season allowing 119 hits and pitching to a WHIP of 1.402 with a 3.5 walk rate and 8.5 strikeout rate. Bradish had six quality starts among his 23 starts and averaged 16.9 pitches per inning.

The Orioles went 14-9 in his starts last season and went 9-4 in his last 13 when he produced a very strong finish. After coming off the injured list in late July, Bradish was 3-3 with a 3.28 ERA in his last 13 games, allowing a .607 OPS. In his last eight starts of 2022, he pitched four quality starts and three scoreless outings, going 3-2 with a 2,76 ERA allowing a .169 batting average and .500 OPS. He gave up just two homers over 45 2/3 innings in those games and allowed two runs or less five times.

Bradish faced Texas just once last season and it was at Globe Life Field, where he allowed one run and three hits over five innings on Aug. 3 on 93 pitches.

ARLINGTON, Tex. – The Orioles scored 23 runs in Boston and had two players produce a five-hit game. They hit nine doubles and added seven homers and their team OPS of 1.033 leads the American League at this early point.

But baseball’s No. 1 prospect, Gunnar Henderson, considered a leading candidate to be the American League Rookie of the Year, is still looking for his first hit of 2023. He is 0-for-8 but has also drawn a team-leading six walks.

That is six walks out of the Orioles' team total of 15 and no other player on the roster has walked more than twice thus far.

“The hits haven’t come yet but they will,” manager Brandon Hyde said this afternoon in the visitor’s dugout at Globe Life Field. “But he’s taking good at-bats. Lot of 3-2 counts. Laying off borderline, the pitches that are off (the plate). Feel like on some of his swings, he’s just missing a few. Little bit musclely, I think he’s trying to get that first one. Once he gets that first one, he’s going to be able to relax a little bit. But his at-bats have been good so far.”

Henderson’s walk rate, which was 12.1 last year is 42.9 at this very early juncture. Last season he saw 4.08 pitches per plate appearance and that is up to 4.50 so far this year.

ARLINGTON, Tex. – The Orioles (1-2) begin their second series of the year tonight playing unbeaten Texas (3-0) to start a three-game series at Globe Life Field.

Right-hander Kyle Bradish (4-7, 4.90 ERA in 2022) makes his season debut facing Texas right-hander Jon Gray (7-7, 3.96 ERA). In his last 13 starts of last season, Bradish went 3-3 with a 3.28 ERA and the Orioles went 9-4 in those games.

Kyle Stowers and Anthony Bemboom are making their first starts of the year with Stowers batting sixth in left field and Bemboom batting ninth and catching while Adley Rutschman hits second as the DH. Stowers is the O's fourth different left fielder in four games. 

For the Orioles

Cedric Mullins CF
Adley Rutschman DH
Anthony Santander RF
Ryan Mountcastle 1B
Gunnar Henderson 3B
Kyle Stowers LF
Adam Frazier 2B
Jorge Mateo SS
Anthony Bemboom C

There are certainly a few things to clean up as the Orioles play at Texas tonight in their second series of the year. They scored 23 runs in three games at Boston, but allowed nine runs three straight games and no one thinks that is nearly good enough or close to it from the mound.

The O’s defense was shaky for three days in Boston, particularly in the outfield and there was not nearly enough pitching or defense to start the 2023 season. An out away, a catch away, from a 2-0 record on Saturday, instead the Orioles are 1-2 heading to play Texas.

"We swung the bat well enough (to win), but we've got to pitch and play defense and we didn't have our best series on the mound or defensively," manager Brandon Hyde said. "Those are two things we've got to do better to win series' in this league."

The Orioles won 10-9 Thursday before 9-8 and 9-5 losses in the last two games as the teams combined for 50 runs and 74 hits in the series.

The O’s had 10 hits or more each game, producing 38 in the series with nine doubles, seven homers and 10 stolen bases. They are batting .339/.426/.607/1.033 as team right now.

The Orioles have exchanged one-run wins with Boston, and both clubs are 1-1 as they wrap up this three-game series today at Fenway Park. The Orioles won 10-9 on Thursday and lost 9-8 yesterday. After the series wrap-up game, the O’s head to Texas for three games to conclude the season-opening road trip.

The Orioles have scored 18 runs on 26 hits with five homers and 10 stolen bases to start the year. Five different players have already hit home runs and five have stolen bases. Catcher Adley Rutschman is 6-for-10 and Austin Hays is 5-for-10 through two games.

Lefty Cole Irvin (9-13, 3.98 ERA in 2022 with Oakland) makes his O’s debut this afternoon. He pitched 181 innings last season, the 12^th-most in the American League. He recorded a 1.160 WHIP, allowing 1.2 homers per nine innings with a 1.8 walk rate and 6.4 strikeout rate.

Irvin is an outstanding control pitcher with a career 2.0 walk rate. His 14.4 pitches per inning were the second-fewest in the AL last year, while his 1.79 BB/9 ratio ranked sixth-best among qualified AL hurlers. And his 4.9 percent walk rate ranked in the 89th percentile of MLB, per Statcast. He did that while ranking near the bottom of all MLB pitchers last season in fastball and curveball spin rate.

Irvin had an 8.40 ERA in the first inning last season when opponents produced an OPS of 1.095 against him. He went 2-1 with a 2.93 ERA in five April starts in 2022.

How do the Orioles bounce back after such a brutal loss? I don’t have that answer, but what choice do they have? A good thing about baseball sometimes is that it's everyday nature. They have another game today and need to win it to win this series.

I’ve been in their clubhouse over the years a day after a tough, tough loss and am always surprised at how well the players can move on. They just know they have to. There isn’t much to learn from their loss on Saturday when Ryan McKenna’s dropped popup should have been the third out of a win. Instead, it gave Boston another swing. And a player having a huge day, Adam Duvall, hit a two-run homer off Félix Bautista for a 9-8 win.

The Orioles should be 2-0. They are 1-1.

How do they respond? We begin to find out this afternoon.

The start of the year has produced some record-setting performances. According to STATS, the Orioles are the first team with two players having five hits in the first two games of a season since 1901. Adley Rutschman did it on Opening Day, and yesterday, Austin Hays went 5-for-5 with two doubles and a solo homer.

The Orioles and Boston Red Sox resume their season-opening series at Fenway Park this afternoon. The Orioles had 15 hits - including homers from Adley Rutschman and Ramón Urías - drew nine walks and stole five bases in their Opening Day 10-9 win on Thursday.

The Orioles hit .395 (15-for-38) in the win and produced four doubles and two homers while going 5-for-14 with runners in scoring position. They led 5-2 after four innings and 10-4 after seven before holding off Boston’s late rally. The Red Sox scored three runs in the eighth and two in the last of the ninth.

The Orioles won on Opening Day for 10^th time in the last 13 games. They are now 45-25 all-time in openers, 13-12 when they open on the road and 8-3 when they open versus Boston. They are 7-1 in the last eight openers against the Red Sox.

Rutschman went 5-for-5 with a home run, a run scored, four RBIs and a walk in his first Opening Day action. The five hits, four RBIs and six times reaching base safely all marked career highs. He became the first player in O's history to reach base safely six times on Opening Day, and the eighth major league player to do so since at least 1901, per Stathead, and became the first catcher to reach base safely six times in a game since the Mets' Kevin Plawecki did it on Aug. 16, 2018 at Philadelphia. He is the first O's catcher to record five hits in a game since Matt Wieters did it on Aug. 14, 2016 at San Francisco. According to ESPN Stats & Info, Rutschman is the first player to go 5-for-5 (or better) with at least four RBIs on Opening Day in major league history

Right-hander Dean Kremer (8-7, 3.23 ERA in 2022) makes his season debut on the mound. Last year in 125 1/3 innings, he allowed 123 hits and 1.253 WHIP. Kremer allowed 0.8 homers per nine innings with a 2.4 walk rate and 6.2 strikeout rate.

The Orioles' Triple-A Norfolk affiliate began its new season last night. But the seasons do not begin for Double-A Bowie, High-A Aberdeen or Single-A Delmarva until next Thursday.

But today we have the break-camp rosters for those three clubs as they were announced this afternoon. There still could be tweaks and changes to these rosters between now and first pitches next week.

There are six O's prospects MLBPipeline.com ranks in the organization's top 30 at Bowie, four with Aberdeen right now and three at Delmarva.

As written here earlier today, the expectation was that shortstop Jackson Holliday would begin with Delmarva, and indeed he is with Delmarva. Also as expected, Heston Kjerstad is at Bowie.

BOWIE

The Orioles stole five bases on Opening Day as the Red Sox battery, almost no matter who was pitching, was no match for their thievery.

They stole off catcher Reese McGuire and three different pitchers getting three bases while Ryan Brasier was on the mound and one each off Corey Kluber and Kaleb Ort.

We will see how the rest of the season goes, but for one day, they ran amok.

After the first day of the season, there were three players in the major leagues with two stolen bases each. The Orioles’ Cedric Mullins and Jorge Mateo, and Ji Hwan Bae of Pittsburgh.

And this was not all about the new rules either.

A player who has dealt with enormous expectations for a long time, O’s catcher Adley Rutschman delivered an enormous performance on his first major league Opening Day as the Orioles held off Boston 10-9 at Fenway Park. 

Rutschman hit a solo homer in the first, delivered a two-run single in the fifth and singled in a run in the seventh. It was a 5-for-5 game and he walked once to reach base six times while driving in four runs.

Rutschman is the first player to go 5-for-5 or better with at least four RBIs on Opening Day, and he's only the third to go 5-for-5 with multiple RBIs in an opener since 1920, joining Hall of Famers Babe Ruth and Billy Herman. Rutschman is the first Orioles catcher to homer on Opening Day since Matt Wieters in 2013. He is also the youngest Oriole to homer on Opening Day since Adam Jones in 2010, and the youngest to do it in his first at-bat since Cal Ripken Jr. in 1984.

Pretty historic day for the player that was the unanimous winner of the Most Valuable Oriole award in 2022 and who finished second to Seattle’s Julio Rodríguez for the American League Rookie of the Year honor.

"Not a bad way to have your first one," Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. "Swung the bat great, caught outstanding, gives us an early boost homer there right away in the first inning."

The Orioles begin their 70^th major league season today, playing their season opener at Boston’s Fenway Park for the third time in the last four years. The Orioles open with six games on the road – three in Boston and three at Texas – before their home opener a week from today versus the New York Yankees.

The Opening Day pitching matchup features two veteran right-handers making debuts with their new clubs. Between them, the Orioles' Kyle Gibson (10-8, 5.05 ERA for Philadelphia in 2022) and Boston’s Corey Kluber (10-10, 4.34 ERA for Tampa Bay) have combined for 512 career starts and a combined 3,090 2/3 innings.

Kluber has made 251 starts, throwing 1,586 2/3 innings, with Gibson at 261 starts and 1,504 innings.

The Orioles, who lost 2-1 in Florida versus Tampa Bay in the 2022 opener, are opening away from home for the fifth season in a row. They are 44-25 all-time in openers and 12-12 when they open on the road. The Orioles won on Opening Day eight straight seasons from 2011-2018, but are 1-3 in the last four opening games. At Fenway Park they lost 13-2 in the 2020 opener and won 3-0 on Opening Day 2021. Overall they are 9-3 in their last 12 season openers.

Baltimore and Boston have squared off on Opening Day 10 times, with the Orioles holding a 7-3 advantage (5-1 in Baltimore and 2-2 at Boston).