O’s left-hander Keegan Akin had a poor spring training, but when the bell rang and he was on the Orioles' opening day roster, things quickly took a turn for the better.

So I had a simple question for Akin earlier on this homestand: What happened? What made the difference between his previous struggles and his throwing so well in his first two games of 2022, against Tampa Bay and Milwaukee?

Akin allowed five runs and six walks in 5 1/3 innings in spring training. But in his first two regular season outings he threw 5 2/3 scoreless on just two hits with no walks and four strikeouts. His WHIP right now is 0.35. Big difference.

Akin relates that he continues to become healthier the longer he is removed from the core surgery he had early in the offseason after last season. And since this season started he has been in attack mode, going right at hitters. Easy to say, harder to do. He’s doing it. And with success to date.

“A little bit of it was just trying to get over the hump, get back into things coming off the injury in the offseason,” Akin said. “I knew I had to get over that hump, getting back into game speed. And we knew there would be some discomfort to start, the nature of the beast, you can’t get that adrenaline going in the offseason. It was moreso, my main goal was to come out of spring healthy. Obviously, the numbers were not what I wanted and it was a poor showing the first two outings. I put one good one together there at the end.

The Orioles won their series opener on Monday against the Milwaukee Brewers. But they lost the next two games to lose that series. They won the series opener at Camden Yards last night against the New York Yankees and now need one win the next two days to win their first series of 2022.

For the fourth straight game, there was a low-scoring contest at Oriole Park as the Birds won 2-1 in 11 innings. Neither team homered and the Yankees had seven hits, going 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position. The O’s had six hits and went 1-for-15 with RISP. But when Ramón Urías drew a two-out, bases loaded walk in the 11^th from Aroldis Chapman, the O’s got a walk-off victory.

Speaking of walks, the O’s drew 10 last night. That included six from the No. 8 and No. 9 spots in the batting order. Those last two spots went a combined 2-for-4 with six walks. It is the first time the O’s have drawn three walks from the nine spot in the order since Andrew Velazquez drew three on Sept. 14, 2020 against Atlanta.

The Orioles drew 10 walks for the first time since May 6, 2012 at Boston and for the first time at home since May 7, 2011 versus Tampa Bay. The Orioles now rank second in the American League with 34 walks, behind only Seattle with 39. They are sixth in walks in the major leagues. The club drew just four walks in the season’s first two games, but has 30 over the last five games. They were 13^th in walks in the American League last season.

The Orioles have not given up a home run in four straight games at Oriole Park, marking the first time the Orioles have not allowed a homer in four in a row at OPACY in a single season since July 10, 2016 versus the Los Angeles Angels and July 22-24, 2016 against Cleveland.

Sometimes you don’t need the hit with runners in scoring position. Sometimes a walk will do. It did for the Orioles late last night.

We’ve seen many games at Oriole Park over the years that were close between the Orioles and Yankees, games when New York made the key play late to beat the Orioles. Friday was not that night.

The Orioles' unheralded bullpen was sensational and it was Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman who cracked, issuing the bases-loaded walk to Ramón Urías as the O’s beat the Yankees 2-1 in 11 innings.

Chapman is the seven-time All-Star who has record 30 or more saves the last three full seasons. The power lefty with a career ERA of 0.54 and WHIP of 0.690 in 34 career games versus the Orioles. His K rate against the O’s is 18.6.

Yep, it was that pitcher who cracked to the delight of most of a crowd of 32,197. This time Camden Yards didn’t sound like Yankee Stadium south at the end of the night.

The Orioles' pitching was stellar throughout. The night kept getting longer, though, and their offense kept coming up short. 

Until it finally didn't. Well, sort of.

On a night of outstanding pitching by both teams, a great pitcher finally cracked. It was Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman.

Chapman got ahead of Ramón Urías 0-2 and then walked him with the bases loaded, throwing four straight pitches out the zone as the Orioles beat the Yankees 2-1 in 11 innings in front of 32,197 at Camden Yards.

The O's 11th began with Austin Hays placed at second base and the team facing New York righty Clarke Schmidt, their sixth pitcher. Jorge Mateo lined out, but Schmidt walked the No. 8 and 9 hitters in Anthony Bemboom and Kelvin Gutiérrez. That set the stage for Cedric Mullins to win it, as Chapman came on to try and pull off a great escape. He almost did, as he fanned Mullins.

The Orioles will play their third series of the season and second versus an American League East opponent starting tonight. They host the New York Yankees at Oriole Park to start a three-game weekend series before a West Coast road trip.

The Orioles (1-5) lost 4-2 to the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday and lost the final two games of that series. The O’s are 1-4 in games decided by two runs or less against two 2021 playoff teams in the Tampa Bay Rays and Brewers.

The Baltimore offense has produced just 12 runs on 39 hits this season and the Orioles have gone 5-for-55 (.091) with runners in scoring position with 28 strikeouts.

The Orioles have hit three home runs to rank last among the 15 teams in the AL, but the club has drawn 24 ranks to rate third in the AL.

In the season-opening series against Tampa Bay, the Orioles scored four runs on 21 hits in the three games, going 2-for-24 with RISP. Against Milwaukee, the O’s scored eight runs on 18 hits, going 3-for-31 with RISP.

The Orioles have lost their opening day starter, lefty John Means, for an undetermined length of time. Now, as they await further word on Means' injury, manager Brandon Hyde will try to piece his rotation together and decide the next steps for a pitching staff minus its ace.

Means left his start on Wednesday night against Milwaukee at Camden Yards after four innings and 51 pitches with what was announced that night as left forearm tightness. He had an MRI yesterday.

“He has a forearm muscle strain,” Hyde said during his pregame press conference today at the ballpark. “We need some additional tests to look at any structural damage to his elbow. We’re just continuing to look at it right now, so it's still to be determined how long (he’ll be out).

“I did talk to him earlier. He’s fine. John is not a real up and down guy and he’s just trying to stay positive with this whole thing. And optimistic. But I think he’s handling it fine.

“We don’t have much experience in our rotation and losing your opening day starter. We’ll see how long it’s going to be. But for some time now, it’s going to be hard. Do need guys to step up. John’s one of the guys that people look up to on our pitching staff. So to have him out is going to be challenging.”

A few observations from the Orioles’ first six games. They went 1-5, but played close, competitive games against two 2021 division winners in the Tampa Bay Rays and Milwaukee Brewers.

Rotation concerns: It’s too soon for their rotation to be in crisis, but there is some reason for concern. They have uncertainty with what they are doing with the No. 5 starter and now reason to worry about lefty John Means.

Means left after four innings last night with left forearm tightness and didn’t sound too concerned in his postgame interview. An MRI could show the club and fan base if there is any real reason for concern. But how can there not be some worry about a pitcher that has had shoulder issues in the past and is having this issue after just two starts?

Means is not only very talented but is a leader on the pitching staff. Losing him for any length of time would be a blow.

The Orioles have both Grayson Rodriguez and Kyle Bradish in the rotation right now at Triple-A Norfolk and both threw four scoreless in their season debuts. Tonight is Rodriguez’s second Triple-A start. The Tides had listed right-hander Kyle Brnovich to start tomorrow night and southpaw Kevin Smith on Saturday.

Trying to catch a break or at least a few clutch hits, the Orioles came up with sort of a partial loaf tonight. They finally scored some runners in scoring position to tie the game 2-2. But when Milwaukee pushed across two runs in the top of the ninth versus righty Jorge López, they beat the Orioles 4-2 at Camden Yards.

But it was a night where the Orioles’ top starting pitcher, lefty John Means, exited the game early due to injury.

Means, who missed time last year with a shoulder issue, retired seven straight batters through the top of the fourth tonight and was trailing Milwaukee 2-0. But he was settling into a good groove, retiring the Brewers in order on nine pitches in the third and 12 pitches in the fourth.

And then he was suddenly out of the game due to left forearm tightness.

When right-hander Joey Krehbiel started warming up in the home fourth, it was clear something was up. Means was at 51 pitches through four and he was rolling. But he would also soon be out of the game.

It is a marquee pitching matchup to wrap up the Brewers-Orioles series tonight as O’s lefty John Means (0-0, 2.25 ERA) faces Milwaukee right-hander Corbin Burnes (0-0, 5.40 ERA) at Camden Yards. Tonight’s winner takes the series after Baltimore’s 2-0 win Monday and Milwaukee’s 5-4 victory last night.

Burnes won the 2021 National League Cy Young Award in a close vote over the Phillies' Zach Wheeler and Max Scherzer, who was with the Nationals and Dodgers last year. In the final vote tally, Burnes came up with 151 points to 141 for Wheeler and 113 for Scherzer. The 10-point margin of victory was the closest in the NL and tied for the fourth-closest overall since the ballot expanded from three to five pitchers in 2010. The closest in the American League was in 2012, when the Rays’ David Price outpointed the Tigers’ Justin Verlander 153-149.

Some Orioles fans will certainly remember that the closest election in the AL before that occurred in 1969 with the only tie in Cy Young Award balloting, between the O’s Mike Cuellar and the Tigers’ Denny McLain, the last year when voters could select only one pitcher.

Burnes is the first Brewers pitcher to win the Cy Young Award in the NL. The only other Cy Young Award winners for the Brewers, Rollie Fingers in 1981 and Pete Vuckovich in 1982, did so in the AL. The Brewers moved to the NL in 1998.

Burnes went 11-5 with an ERA of 2.43, best in the NL, in winning the award. Over 167 innings, he recorded a WHIP of 0.94, allowed just 6.6 hits per nine and only seven homers for a homer rate of 0.4. In 2021, he recorded 58 strikeouts before issuing his first walk on May 13. The Brewers went 19-9 in his starts.

It would have been a cool story to watch unfold for the two brothers. When the schedule was released for the 2022 season, both Ramón Urías of the Orioles and his younger brother, Luis, of the Brewers noted the April dates on the calendar. Ramón’s Orioles would host Luis and the Brewers, and their family would made the trek from Mexico to see it.

But in his first spring training game, Luis, 24, suffered a quad injury.

“We felt bad about it. We were waiting for this time. My family would be here for sure if if we both were playing,” said Ramón, the older brother by three years, today in the O’s clubhouse.

Just like his older bro, Luis also plays second, shortstop and third base. He moved around the infield for the 2021 division-winning Brewers, slashing .249/.345/.445 with a .789 OPS, 23 homers and 75 RBIs.

“When we were growing up together, we talked a lot of baseball,” Ramón said. “We prepared together this offseason in Phoenix. I am proud of him, he’s a good player. We are very close.”

Cedric Mullins

So they have started the year going 1-4 and have played four games decided by two runs or less against two teams that combined to win 195 games last year.

In the big picture of looking ahead to the six-month season, the Orioles are saying they expect to make progress this season and win more games. It's time for O's baseball to start trending up - brutal loss last night notwithstanding.

After a six-hit shutout on opening day in Baltimore, the Orioles tonight look for their second win in a row against the Milwaukee Brewers, a team that has won the National League Central twice in the last four years. The Brewers won 95 games with a first-place finish last season and won 96 games in finishing atop their division in 2018.
 
Milwaukee has made the playoffs four years in a row and the Brewers are one of five teams to make the postseason in at least each of the last four years. They join the Los Angeles Dodgers (9), Houston Astros (5), New York Yankees (5) and Atlanta Braves (4). Milwaukee’s 95 wins from a season ago fell one shy of a franchise record (96 in 2011 and 2018) and then they lost in four games to the Braves in the National League Division Series.
 
Yesterday was the fourth time the Orioles have played the Brewers in Baltimore’s home opener and the O’s are now 2-2. They beat Milwaukee by 10-0 in 1973 and lost 12-0 in 1988 at Memorial Stadium. They lost 7-0 in 1995 at Camden Yards.
 
The opening day win via a 2-0 score to begin the Orioles’ 30th anniversary season at Oriole Park matched the score they won by in their first game at the ballpark. On April 6, 1992, right-hander Rick Sutcliffe pitched the Orioles to a 2-0 win in a game that lasted just over two hours. This one was much longer – three hours and 24 minutes – but still felt good around Birdland after the 0-3 start versus Tampa Bay.
 
When Cedric Mullins smoked a 109 mph liner to right-center for a two-run single in the O’s second, it was the clutch hit the team has been looking for. The Orioles had been 2-for-25 with runners in scoring position for the year up to that point.
 
The O’s offense has scored just six runs over four games, scoring one, three, zero and two runs in order versus the Rays and Brewers. The Baltimore team batting average is .208 to rank 12th in the American League, with an OBP of .299 to rank eighth, a slugging percentage of .308 to tie for 12th and a team OPS of .607 which rates 12th.
 
Milwaukee is not hitting much, either, to begin the new year. At 1-3 they are in last in their division and they were shut out for the second time in three games on Monday. They have a team batting average of .202 with an OBP of .303, slugging of .331 and team OPS of .634. They’ve scored nine runs in four games.
 
The Orioles posted five shutouts in 2021. But three of their last six wins dating to 2021 have come via a shutout. On Sept. 20, 2021 they won at Philadelphia 3-0, and three days later they beat Texas 2-0.
 
Right-hander Spenser Watkins (2-7, 8.07 ERA) will make his first start of the year and 11th of his career tonight. Watkins had a 10.31 ERA in nine home games last year. He was just added to the roster Monday before the opening day game.
 
Lefty Eric Lauer (7-5, 3.19 ERA in 2021) gets the start for the Brew Crew. The 26-year-old Lauer was a first-round draft pick, No. 25 overall, out of Kent State by San Diego in the 2016 draft. He struggled in spring training, allowing nine runs (eight earned) over 6 2/3 innings.
 
But last season he threw 118 2/3 innings, allowing 94 hits with 1.138 WHIP. He gave up 1.2 homers per nine with a 3.1 walk rate and 8.9 strikeout rate. Milwaukee went 10-10 in his 2021 starting assignments. In 12 games in the second half, Lauer was 4-1 with a 2.60 ERA and 0.963 WHIP.
 
He throws his fastball 45 percent of the time with an average velocity of 92.6 mph, using his cutter 19 percent, curveball 15 percent, changeup 11 percent and slider 10 percent.
 
Outfielder Anthony Santander reached base four times Monday with two hits and two walks, and is 5-for-10 with four walks for the season. Yesterday was the seventh time in his career that he’s reached safely in at least four plate appearances in a game and first since April 4, 2021 at Boston. He ranks third in the major leagues with a .667 OBP, fourth with a 1.567 OPS, and seventh with a .900 slugging percentage through the first five days of the year. His single in the seventh inning had an exit velocity of 111.2 mph, the hardest-hit ball by an Oriole so far in 2022.
 
The Orioles have drawn 11 walks the last two games and are fifth in American League in walks so far.

When O’s right-hander Bryan Baker woke up on the morning of April 3, he didn’t know his chance to both make and impact the O’s 2022 bullpen would be greater by the end of that day.
 
But when Tanner Scott and Cole Sulser were traded to Miami, that meant opportunity and innings would open up for someone else. Baker thought, “Why not me?”
 
“Yeah, definitely,” he said during an interview at the ballpark on Monday. “It was something I didn’t see coming at all. But once I kind of wrapped my head around it and realized where I was going to be, I think it was mainly joy to know I could take advantage of an opportunity and maybe help the club win some games.”
 
And the 27-year-old Baker pitched twice in the series versus Tampa Bay, throwing two innings and allowing one hit and one run with three strikeouts. He showed a 93, 94 mph fastball and decent slider.
 
It was in November when he first realized a good chance to pitch in the majors could be coming. He was claimed on waivers from Toronto by Baltimore. This followed his very strong 2021 season at Triple-A for the Blue Jays in which he went 6-1 with a 1.96 ERA, allowing just 18 hits over 41 1/3 innings to produce a WHIP of 0.847. The 11^th-round pick of Colorado in the 2016 draft was going to a new club, but he was on the O’s 40-man roster and he knew that could mean more big league time this season.
 
“Yeah, 100 percent. I got my foot in the door last year and had a really good year,” Baker said. “Being able to come over here I think it’s about taking advantage of these opportunities.”
 
And getting in two games early versus the Rays was a positive, too, as he gets his season going with his new club.
 
“I think it really helps,” Baker said. “Just kind of building off what I was doing in spring training. Just trying to go right at hitters. Being a Florida boy (from Fort Walton Beach), I guess I had a little bit of a comfort zone there in Tampa, but nice to get in a couple of games and get the season rolling.”
 
I asked him how his pitching looks when it’s going well for him.
 
“Going right at hitters, getting ahead in the count and then finish them with one of the three pitches that I have,” he replied. “Being able to elevate the fastball and get some punchouts with that. Mixing in the slider and getting some grounders as well. Just go right at guys and throw strikes.”
 
Now he’s starting to settle in for what he hopes will be a long run in the Orioles bullpen, which has pitched to a 2.45 ERA in the season’s first four games. He’s learning his new teammates and fitting in well.
 
“It’s pretty fun, man,” Baker said. “I didn’t really know anybody until I got here, but it’s been a pretty good month or so being around them. Getting to know everybody. It’s been really fun so far.”

In an interview before the home opener on Monday, young right-hander Mike Baumann told me how excited he was for opening day in Baltimore. He had heard how special it can be and he was also excited that his mom and some family members were in town to see it.
 
“It will be a day for me to remember,” he said.
 
Then the game started and his day got even better. The guy they call “Big Mike” had a big outing led by a big fastball. After lefty Bruce Zimmermann threw four scoreless innings at the defending National League Central champion Milwaukee Brewers, Baumann took the mound for the fifth inning.
 
He would enter this outing full of confidence. Confidence that had origins in Fort Myers, Fla. On April 3 in a spring training game against the Twins, Baumann fired 2 1/3 scoreless and his fastball touched 98 mph against Minnesota. That day he looked like the pitcher that was a top O’s prospect on his way up through the minors. He looked like the hurler that shared the 2019 Jim Palmer Award as O’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year with Grayson Rodriguez.
 
A meaningless spring game? It was, but not to Baumann.
 
“That felt good. That gave me a lot of confidence going into the season. I felt like everything was working. I felt powerful and strong on the mound. Really just had trust and confidence that whatever I was doing would be working,” he told me of that spring outing.
 
Then yesterday, eight days later, it was another 2 1/3 scoreless, and again he was touching 98 mph. This game was far from meaningless. It was his first opening day in Baltimore. The O’s were clinging to a 2-0 lead and Big Mike had a big outing. He leaned on his four-seamer heavily, throwing the heater 29 times in 37 pitches as he fanned three and averaged 97 mph on the fastball. He was cutting it loose again, just like he had against the Twins in Fort Myers.
 
Baumann pitched in the bigs late last year, but fans didn’t see him put his best foot forward then as he had a 9.90 ERA in four September games.
 
“It was just a good experience,” he said of getting the call to the show. “I was just happy to be here and I really just wanted to go out there and fill up the zone. I didn’t get the results I wanted but there was a lot to learn from and take with me going into the offseason.”
 
And a fastball that averaged just 93.6 mph in those four O’s games then is now back in the high 90s.
 
“I feel a lot better now than I did at the end of last year,” Baumann said Monday. “The coaches in player development got with me and we put together a plan to clean up some things. I was pretty persistent with my work in the offseason, working on stuff during the lockout. I came in feeling good and ready to go.”
 
He said one mechanics issue he cleaned up was that his arm would sometimes drag behind his body. Now he’s more in synch and on time with everything. Body and arm working in concert.
 
Baumann is one of the young pitchers executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias was referring to, no doubt, when he said it’s time for some of that group to take steps forward this year.
 
Baumann said he completely concurs with that.
 
“Yeah, for sure," he said. "You know, we haven’t, you know, results speak for itself. He has a job to put together the best roster possible and it’s our job to go out compete and get guys out.”
 
For one day in front of a big crowd that included his family, Baumann sure did that. He picked up his second major league win as the Orioles picked up their first of the 2022 season.
 
A few more notes
 
* The Orioles won their first home opener since 2018, improving to 45-24 all-time in home openers. They avoided falling to 0-4 for the first time since the 1988 season and beat Milwaukee for the first time since May 26, 2014. The Orioles shut out the Brewers for the first time since June 26, 1995 at Milwaukee, when they beat them 2-0. And the win marked the first time the O’s shut out the Brewers in Baltimore since Aug. 21, 1989.
 
* Zimmermann threw 66 pitches in producing his first career scoreless outing. He had an ERA of 3.89 in seven home games in 2021. He is 3-0 with a 2.25 ERA in his last five starts at Oriole Park dating to May 16, 2021.
 
* O’s pitchers have allowed just 15 runs for the season and have a team ERA of 4.09.
 
* The Orioles had just five shutouts last year, but in their last six wins, three have come via a shutout. Last season they blanked the Phillies on the road on Sept. 20 and Texas at home on Sept. 23 and won via the five-pitcher six-hitter in the home opener.

The Orioles won 2-0 in the first game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on April 6, 1992. Today, in the beginning game of their 30th anniversary season, they beat the Milwaukee Brewers 2-0.

Rick Sutcliffe was not around to pitch a gem in just over two hours this time, but it was a satisfying win for Birdland nonetheless, the Orioles’ first of the year.

Bruce Zimmermann teamed with four relievers as the O’s won in front of a sellout crowd of 44,461 to improve to 1-3 and drop Milwaukee to the same 1-3 record.

Zimmermann showed poise - and that the moment was not too big for him this afternoon - with four scoreless innings.

O’s starters had allowed 10 earned runs over 10 2/3 innings to start the year and the last two starters – Jordan Lyles and Tyler Wells – had allowed nine runs in 6 2/3 innings.

After losing three games at Tropicana Field to begin the 2022 season, the Orioles (0-3) begin their home schedule this afternoon on opening day in Baltimore as they host the Milwaukee Brewers (1-2) at 3:05 p.m. at Oriole Park.

Milwaukee lost 5-4 in Chicago versus the Cubs on Thursday and the Friday game was rained out before they fell to 0-2 with a 9-0 loss on Saturday. Yesterday, the Brewers fell behind 3-0 in the opening inning, but rallied to win 5-4 at Wrigley Field.

The Brewers went 95-67 last season, winning the National League Central for the second time in four years. They won the division with 96 wins in 2018.

The O’s began the year losing by scores of 2-1, 5-3 and 8-0 to the Rays to begin a season 0-3 for the first time since 2017. They have lost 15 straight to Tampa Bay.

The Baltimore offense produced just four runs in that series as O’s batters had 21 hits in three games, going 2-for-24 with runners in scoring position. O’s hitters fanned 14 times on opening day, 10 more on Saturday and 13 in yesterday’s shutout loss.

Orioles players and coaches and skipper Brandon Hyde are getting their firs in-person look today at the new dimensions at Camden Yards, where the wall is back much further this year in left and left-center field.

Austin Hays, who is starting in left field today against Milwaukee, had not yet been out there when reporters were allowed in the clubhouse this morning. But he didn’t think it would take him long to learn some of the differences and nuances with the deeper dimensions.

“You treat it like how you would going to a visiting ballpark,” said Hays. “It’s your first time there. You get your reps in and get a feel for what you need to do. I’m sure this series we will get very comfortable with it.”

And he added it won’t take long for him to feel at home out there.

“Probably just a couple of days of BP. Good shagging days, taking balls live off the bat. I can do that for three rounds the next couple of days and honestly I’ll be very comfortable,” Hays said.

After two close losses to the Tampa Bay Rays, the Orioles got hammered 8-0 on Sunday and got swept to begin the new season. They scored just four runs in three games.

They will look for a better fate when they host Milwaukee today at 3:05 p.m. in the home opener at Camden Yards.

Lefty Bruce Zimmermann (4-5, 5.04 ERA in 2021) will become the fourth Maryland native to start a home opener for the Orioles. Steve Barber did that in 1964 and 1965, Tom Phoebus in 1968 and Dave Johnson in 1990. Zimmermann will become the first Maryland-born pitcher to start a home opener at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in the ballpark’s 30-year history.

The Rays surely have the Orioles’ number and beat them both in close games and blowouts, winning by one, two and eight runs at Tropicana Field.

While the Baltimore bullpen had some good moments in the opening series, the starters the last two days (Jordan Lyles and Tyler Wells) gave up nine runs in 6 2/3 innings.

The Orioles lost by one run opening day and by two runs yesterday. And now at 0-2 for the first time since the 2010 season, they need a win this afternoon at the Trop to avoid being swept three in a row by the Tampa Bay Rays.
 
After two games of the season, Tampa Bay, Toronto and the New York Yankees are tied for first at 2-0 in the American League East, and the Orioles and Boston are 0-2.
 
The O’s offense has produced 15 hits in 67 at-bats (.224), scoring just four runs in the series. Anthony Santander and Ryan Mountcastle have homered. Mountcastle hit No. 1 Saturday when he drove a Drew Rasmussen slider out to right field to score two runs. The O’s batters are 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position the past two days. Baltimore hitters have fanned 24 times with four walks.
 
The Orioles have lost 14 games in a row versus the Rays, dating to last July. They have lost eight in a row in St. Petersburg and have lost eight consecutive road games and 10 of 11 overall dating to late last season. Tampa Bay has won six consecutive home games going back to last September.
 
Right-hander Tyler Wells (2-3, 4.11 ERA in 2021) made 44 appearances, all in relief, last season, so today will be his first major league start. Selected by the Orioles in the 2020 Rule 5 draft from Minnesota, he pitched to an ERA of 1.59 in spring training. Over 11 1/3 innings he walked four and fanned 14.
 
Last year Wells threw 57 innings, allowing 40 hits with 0.912 WHIP. He walked 1.9 batters per nine and struck out 10.3. Lefty batters hit just .167 with a .468 OPS against him, and right-handers batted .206/.675 versus Wells.
 
Wells was stellar in road games last season, with a 1.14 ERA and 0.803 WHIP over 23 2/3 innings in which he did not allow a single home run. He had a 6.21 ERA in 25 games at home.
 
Wells made four appearances against the Rays in 2021 with an ERA of 3.00. Over six innings he allowed four hits and two runs with no walks and 12 strikeouts.
 
Two-time American League Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber (5-3, 3.83 ERA in 2021) gets the start for his new team after making 16 starts last season for the New York Yankees. The right-handed Kluber won Cy Young Awards in 2014 and 2017 with Cleveland. He is one of 19 pitchers to win two or more such awards.
 
The three-time All-Star threw 80 innings last summer, allowing 74 hits with 1.338 WHIP, allowing a 0.9 homer rate with 3.7 walks and 9.2 strikeouts per nine innings.
 
Kluber turns 36 today and celebrates his birthday by making his11th career start versus the Orioles. He is 5-1 with a 3.15 ERA and 1.127 WHIP in his career over 65 2/3 innings against Baltimore. In three starts last season for the Yankees, he went 2-0 with a 3.86 ERA against the Orioles.
 
The Orioles return home after the game to host the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday afternoon at 3:05 p.m. on opening day in Baltimore. It begins a week-long homestand before the club hits the road for a West Coast road trip.