Eflin earns first Orioles win in Game 1, McCann catches fastball in face and keeps playing (updated)

Zach Eflin will pitch in front of much larger crowds and with a lot more at stake. He won't always watch his battery mate bleed at home plate and refuse to leave. Today’s debut with the Orioles unfolded in the mid-afternoon opener of a doubleheader, a makeup from the May 14 rainout. Empty seats were spread at every level throughout the ballpark.

The start still seemed like a big deal. The scene just didn’t match it.

Eflin allowed three runs over six innings and equaled his season high with seven strikeouts, Anthony Santander hit his 30^th homer, and the Orioles took everything the Blue Jays gave them in an 11-5 win at Camden Yards in a game that will be remembered more for James McCann’s toughness than the right-hander’s first outing with his new team.

The veteran pitcher liked his results overall and loved his catcher.

Eflin carried a shutout bid into the fifth and surrendered a three-run homer to Addison Barger, the rookie’s first in the majors. Barger entered the game after the Blue Jays removed Justin Turner and traded him to the Mariners. Just some of the weirdness from today.

Colton Cowser bonded with Eflin in the third with a leaping catch at the left field wall to rob Spencer Horwitz and with a diving catch of Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s sinking liner on consecutive plays. The first 1-2-3 inning for Eflin, who would give up a season-high 10 hits but walk none. He threw 98 pitches, eight in a sixth inning that included another impressive grab from Cedric Mullins at the center field track, and exited to a standing ovation.

"That’s the goal, really, with those long innings is be able to stay as loose as you can and come out and fire strikes and get weak contact," Eflin said. "But, honestly, before we even talk about the outing, what a leader James McCann is."

Yeah, about that ...

Eflin had a lengthy wait in the first. The Orioles sent 10 batters to the plate in the bottom half against Yariel Rodríguez and scored four runs, but the longest pause – approximately 10 minutes - came after McCann was drilled in the face by a 94.6 mph fastball, the last of 43 pitches thrown by the rookie.

McCann stayed face-down in the dirt as head athletic trainer Brian Ebel raced out of the dugout. Assistant Patrick Wesley joined them. McCann eventually rose to his knees, then his feet, with blood streaming out of nostrils that were packed with cotton gauze. He walked to first base before heading to the bench – not to exit the game but to change into a clean jersey.

"I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that on a baseball field," Eflin said. "I just became his probably No. 1 fan. To be able to go through that and stay in the game and show the grit and determination and competitiveness that he has, it’s inspiring. That was awesome.

"It felt like nothing changed at all. I mean, looking at him, it didn’t look like he could see really well, which is crazy just how swollen he was. But to stay in the game and be the leader that he is, it makes my job a lot easier to know someone’s out there giving everything they have. It could be hot, could be giving up a lot of hits, but you’ve got someone who is out there playing through a pretty serious injury, it was amazing to watch."

The Orioles suspect that McCann has a broken nose and are sending him for a CT scan and an appointment with their ear, nose and throat specialist. His left eye is blackened and almost swollen shut. A drop of blood fell from his nostril during his media scrum outside the clubhouse.

"You see it happen to other guys. It’s no fun to see it happen to your teammate, or even an opponent. To have it happen to you, it stinks," McCann said.

"I think, at first, it’s more scary than anything. It’s like taking a pretty good punch, a pretty good right hook, I guess. Now, it’s just the swelling that’s kind of set in and hard to see a little bit. But other than that ..."

Playing a doubleheader, with Game 2 delayed due to a possible storm, further motivated McCann to stay on the field instead of the training room.

"It did, but at the same time I feel like I would have battled through as best I could even in just a single game," he said. "Like I said, I take a lot of pride in being tough and grinding through things and today was no different.

"It was kind of one of those things where I felt like if I could get the blood to stop flowing, then I could stay in the game, and that’s what we were able to do, for the most part."

How could he bat from the right side with his left eye barely open?

“God was helping me for sure," he said, managing a smile. "It’s really tough to see and thankful I was able to come through with a knock and be able to stay in there.”

McCann also didn't want to bail on Eflin.

The hit-by-pitch forced in a run, just like the Ramón Urías walk that preceded it. Cowser, Santander and Gunnar Henderson walked to load the bases with no outs and Ryan Mountcastle dumped a single into center field for a 1-0 lead. Mountcastle has nine RBIs in his last four games, including a homer this afternoon in the eighth inning. He began the day slashing .309/.368/.592 in 58 career games against Toronto and finished 3-for-4 with a walk.

Jordan Westburg’s ground ball also plated a run and Mullins reached on catcher’s interference to reload the bases for Urías.

Urías’ grounder in the third scored Westburg, who doubled and advanced on Mullins’ fly ball to deep right that George Springer ran down, to give the Orioles a 5-0 lead. McCann received a standing ovation as he came to the plate.

McCann grounded out but he’s attained hero status in Baltimore. And he received another ovation after his bloop single down the right field line in the fifth.

Mountcastle singled again in the fourth to load the bases with one out and Cowser scored on Ryan O’Hearn’s fly ball. Westburg doubled to bring home Henderson, but Mountcastle was out at the plate.

Cowser extended his hitting streak to a career-high 10 games, and he added a sacrifice fly in the fifth for an 8-3 lead. Santander padded his team lead in homers with a two-run shot off Yerry Rodríguez, leaving him three behind his career high of 33 in 2022.

Santander is tied with the Braves’ Marcell Ozuna for third-most in the majors. He’s the ninth player in Orioles history with multiple 30-homer campaigns.

Eflin filled the zone in his usual manner in the first inning, throwing 14 of 17 pitches for strikes and stranding Springer and Turner after they singled. He struck out Horwitz and Guerrero back-to-back, struck out three more in the second while stranding two, and struck out Leo Jiménez to leave two more on base in the fourth.

The pitch mix was all sinkers, cutters and sweepers until he worked in a curveball in the third.

“It was tough," Hyde said. "He had to sit so long. When you sit so long, a bunch of half-innings of us offensively, Mac getting hurt. For him to pound the strike zone the way he did, give up the homer but a lot of singles. He’s always going to be a ground ball away from a double play, and we’ve seen that a lot with him. Just a total pro effort knowing that we have a doubleheader, knowing that if he could give us six innings, that would be huge, and he went out and did that.”

"It was awesome," Eflin said. "The crowd was into it. A bit different than Tampa. It was a lot of fun, honestly, to be out there with the guys and such a good, high-energy team. It was a lot of fun for me."

Teammates are happy that Eflin is on their side. He owns a 3.00 ERA and 0.758 WHIP in five career starts against them, tossing seven scoreless innings with two hits and eight strikeouts on July 21, 2023 and allowing one run and one hit with eight strikeouts in seven innings on Sept. 15.

“I had a couple hitters come to me right away the day the trade was made, a couple of our everyday guys that have faced him, and right away they mentioned how tough he is to hit and how big that was for us to get him,” Hyde said earlier today. “Just that he’s got such great command. He’s got great command to the corners and he really knows how to pitch. He did that against us last year.”

Eflin packs it all into nine major league seasons. A team trying to win a World Series would prefer to lighten the youthful presence in the rotation.

“I remember Gibby (Kyle Gibson) talking to me about him last year,” Hyde said. “I think experience is huge, especially this time of year. And going through kind of what we’ve been going through the last few weeks, too, to have somebody else in the clubhouse who’s been through all sorts of different types of experiences. I know it’s hard to be the new guy coming in and right away be somebody that people can go to talk to, but he will become that and soon.

“Anytime we can add experience in the room, I think that’s really important, and Zach threw the ball extremely well in the World Series for the Phillies and postseason runs. He was on a really good team last year in Tampa. To add somebody like him, a veteran presence, I thought was important.”

The Mariners added a veteran when they acquired Turner during the game. Turner singled in the first inning and was removed before the bottom of the second. News of the trade broke a few minutes later.

A player is hit in the face and stays in the game and another player is dealt after a few innings. The nightcap has a tough act to follow.

* The 11 runs are the most scored by the Orioles (63-43) since June 27 against the Rangers.

* The three doubles for a Westburg are a career high. He never had more than one in a game.

* Corbin Burnes starts Tuesday night and Grayson Rodriguez starts Wednesday afternoon. The Blue Jays counter with Chris Bassitt and left-hander Yusei Kikuchi if he isn’t traded.

* The start of Game 2 will be delayed. The tarp is on the field.

Westburg makes his first career start at shortstop. He's played one inning.

For the Orioles

Colton Cowser CF
Adley Rutschman C
Anthony Santander RF
Ryan Mountcastle DH
Ryan O'Hearn 1B
Jordan Westburg SS
Heston Kjerstad LF
Ramón Urías 3B
Connor Norby 2B

Cade Povich LHP