Leftovers for breakfast

Tyler O’Neill knew that he’d move around the outfield after signing his three-year, $49.5 million deal with the Orioles. He won two Gold Gloves in left with the Cardinals but has made four of his five starts in right this season.

Last night’s original lineup had O’Neill in left and Ramón Laureano in right, the same setup as Monday for home Opening Day, but they switched positions in the updated lineup less than an hour later.

Left field is up for grabs after Colton Cowser fractured his left thumb Sunday in Toronto. He’s expected to be out six-to-eight weeks at a minimum. But the Orioles have the same flexibility in their outfield as they do in the infield.

Long gone are the days of Don Buford in left, Paul Blair in center and Frank Robinson in right. Or two-thirds of the outfield consisting of Al Bumbry in center and Ken Singleton in right, or Adam Jones in center and Nick Markakis in right.

O’Neill is most likely to play where Markakis used to roam.

“It’s a little bit of a unique situation because Tyler’s played both, Laureano’s played all three. Tyler’s won Gold Gloves in left but he’s also comfortable in right, played a little bit more right as of late. Played really well in right in Toronto,” said manager Brandon Hyde.

“Cowser played really well in left for us last year. Now we’ve lost Cowser. We had a lot of talks. I talked a lot with T.O. in spring training. I moved Cowser and Tyler around a lot in spring training just to have them feel what it’s like, have them see where they’re more comfortable. Probably going to see Tyler the majority in right. I played (Heston) Kjerstad in both places in spring training for this reason, as well as Laureano. We also have (Ryan) O’Hearn, who’s spent some time in right field for us, as well. But I think Tyler’s gonna play the majority in right field.”

* Laureano collected his first Orioles hit last night with a single to right field off Garrett Crochet, who tossed eight scoreless innings.

“It felt good,” Laureano said.

What's evident is how Laureano couldn’t enjoy it as much because the Orioles lost 3-0.

Laureano had a rough home Opening Day but besides his single last night, he threw out Trevor Story at second base on a hit in the sixth inning. He raced into left-center field to cut off the ball and make the play.

“Just trying to get a good read for the ball and always thinking they’re going to go, always,” he said. “I guess he went and thank God I got him out.”

* The Tuesday break in the schedule enabled the bullpen to freshen up a bit after Cade Povich went 4 1/3 innings Monday, Tomoyuki Sugano four Sunday and Charlie Morton 3 1/3 Friday. Dean Kremer gave the Orioles 5 1/3 Saturday.

The rotation’s 6.26 ERA before last night ranked 28^th in the majors, and the 23 innings were fifth-lowest. The bullpen’s 2.70 ERA was ninth, led by Keegan Akin, Bryan Baker and Seranthony Domínguez each with 2 2/3 scoreless innings, Matt Bowman with 2 1/3 and Yennier Cano with two.

Baker entered last night in the seventh and retired the side in order to leave him with 3 2/3 scoreless innings, two hits, no walks and six strikeouts.

“I was impressed with him in spring training,” Hyde said. “He came out right away throwing 98 (mph) early in camp, and that’s not usually … guys usually tick up throughout camp. He was ready to go. He’s continuing into this season. He’s had some really good appearances for us. He’s throwing his offspeed stuff for strikes and he’s 0-1.

“That’s the key to Bake is getting ahead of the count because he’s got good stuff, and he’s doing that so far this year.” 

Domínguez allowed a hit and walked two in his first appearance, but retired all five batters faced over his next two outings. He earned the win in the home opener by retiring the side in order in the sixth.

This is the kind of rebound that the Orioles wanted and needed after Domínguez posted a 19.50 ERA and 3.333 WHIP in six exhibition innings, with 13 runs, 15 hits, five walks and five homers in six innings. He also struck out 11 but few people were comforted.

“Rough spring and a little shaky that first outing in Toronto, also,” Hyde said. “Throwing the ball really well the last two times out. Really impressed with him two days ago. Thought he had a great outing in Toronto, also. We saw that for the majority of the time last year. He had a couple hiccups and gave up some solo homers, but for the most part it’s upper-90s fastball with a really good breaking ball. And he had a great outing a couple days ago.”

Bowman was outrighted at the end of camp and had his contract selected with Albert Suárez placed on the injured list. He followed Povich to the mound Monday and struck out Trevor Story to strand Rob Refsnyder at second base as the tying run.

The official scorer awarded the win to Domínguez, but Bowman qualified.

“Matty Bowman was our MVP the last two games, honestly, for what he’s done to save the bullpen,” Hyde said, “but also to get huge outs in that game two days ago.”