Povich produces hitless start for Orioles, Mullins and O'Hearn go left-on-left, Mountcastle homers twice (O's win 8-2)

SARASOTA, Fla. – Every pitch and every inning felt like they weighed a ton on a scale of importance.

Spring training results aren’t supposed to matter. The games don’t count.

Don’t tell that to Cade Povich.

Povich and Albert Suárez are battling for the last rotation spot. Suárez allowed one run in five innings in Lakeland in his most recent start. The Orioles switched Charlie Morton to the back fields this afternoon to get his six ups, removing Povich from a piggyback role and putting him first against the Blue Jays’ regular-heavy lineup.

In response, Povich tossed five hitless innings. No runs allowed, three walks, six strikeouts, and much more for the Orioles to consider.

They stretched him out to 81 pitches, and the lone criticism was the 46 strikes. But he was much sharper after the first inning.

“Toward the end, I think we’ve got a week left, so not many more opportunities,” Povich said. “Definitely, if this is my last one, try to leave it all out and hopefully give myself the best shot.”

The first two batters ran the count full and walked. Former Orioles outfielder Anthony Santander flied out and Povich induced two ground balls to escape the jam. The inning cost him 21 pitches, only nine for strikes.

George Springer walked with two outs in the fourth to interrupt a streak of 11 batters in a row retired. Povich faced four more, racked up two strikeouts left to a loud ovation.

“Very happy, obviously,” he said. “A couple of walks I guess I would like to get back, but able to settle down the rest of the game just kind of attack and go back to what’s really been working for me in the past handful of starts.”

Povich was making back-to-back starts against the Jays. He allowed five runs and eight hits in 4 2/3 innings in Dunedin.

“I think overall just felt pretty good,” he said. “Really just trying to treat this one more kind of in-season game-like. I think that’s why stuff was up a tick a little bit more.

“I think it was really just mixing up counts, how we were working guys. Obviously, fifth inning in Dunedin I got a little predictable, kind of sticking with the same sequences. Today was just about mixing stuff, attacking early and reading swings. … All worked well today.”

There are multiple scenarios that could play out. Povich could make the rotation, which keeps Suárez in the bullpen and creates one more opening with Andrew Kittredge recovering from knee surgery. Suárez could make the rotation, which likely sends Povich to Triple-A Norfolk and creates two openings in the bullpen – perhaps filled by Bryan Baker and Matt Bowman.

“We’ve had a couple discussions just throughout spring training, but nothing really set in stone,” Povich said. “A lot of just staying healthy going through spring. That’s the big thing. We’ll see obviously this final week.”

* Cedric Mullins and Ryan O’Hearn hadn’t hit a home run this spring before tonight. They were facing left-hander Eric Lauer, a matchup that could put them on the bench in the regular season. Almost certainly for O’Hearn.

They both have home runs this spring.

Mullins cleared the fence in right field with two outs in the second inning and O’Hearn did the same leading off the third. Mullins batted .196/.228/.278 in 101 plate appearances against lefties last season. O’Hearn was a respectable 11-for-42.

Both players have underwhelming numbers this spring, but they aren’t competing for jobs. Mullins was 4-for-32 and O’Hearn 5-for-30.

O’Hearn faced left-hander Josh Walker in the fifth and flied to the edge of the left field track.

Meanwhile, the steam keeps rising from hot-hitting Ryan Mountcastle, who belted a three-run homer in the third after Jordan Westburg and Adley Rutschman walked. Mountcastle didn’t leave any doubt with his shot to left-center field, his fourth homer of the spring to go with 13 RBIs.

He wasn’t done. These are, after all, his Blue Jays.

Mountcastle destroyed a Justin Bruihl pitch leading off the seventh for an 8-2 lead. That ball also traveled to left-center and appeared to go farther than his first.

* Santander stepped to the plate for his first at-bat tonight and exchanged chest pats with catcher Adley Rutschman, former teammates reunited for a game. Fans applauded Santander, with a few of them standing, but it was underwhelming.

Santander was first-pitch swinging and flied to his replacement, Tyler O’Neill, in right-center field. He struck out leading off the fourth and again in the sixth.

See you at Rogers Centre.

* Jorge Mateo started at second base in his second exhibition game and went 0-for-2 with a walk. … Jackson Holliday reached on an infield single in the fourth, stole second and third base and scored on Westburg’s single. Holliday leads the club with five steals. … O’Neill had an RBI single in the fourth. … Baker’s first pitch was a 99 mph fastball that Bo Bichette hit over the center field fence. Baker struck out two batters. … An Ernie Clement liner struck Gregory Soto on the leg and sent him sprawling to the ground. He remained in the game and allowed one run and three hits in the seventh. … Colton Cowser doubled twice. … The Athletic reported that former Orioles reliever Craig Kimbrel is signing a minor league deal with the Braves. He’s reuniting with former Orioles catcher James McCann.

* The Orioles won 8-2. Keegan Akin retired all three batters faced and struck out two.

Hyde on Povich:
"I was really impressed with Cade today. I didn't think he had his command that first inning, but really settled in nicely and made some big pitches when he needed to. I thought his stuff was good again."

Hyde on Mountcastle:
"Mounty can hit. I think that when he swings at strikes he does a lot of damage. And it was great to see him get to some pull-side homers here. I think that was one thing that kind of went away from him last year was driving the ball to the pull side. He's a good hitter to all fields but we really tapped into his power here this spring. These last couple weeks he's been fun to watch."

Hyde on Holliday:
"We've really tried to free him up this spring and want him to be aggressive and take chances and kind of test his limits, and he's done a great job of that."

Mountcastle on hot streak:
"I'm feeling pretty good at the plate and my body feels good. I'm pretty close to being ready and excited for the season."