Sisco homers on first spring at-bat (quotes added, O's up 6-1)

SARASOTA, Fla. - Orioles manager Brandon Hyde wants his club to be aggressive on the bases this year, a message he's delivered to them in meetings and through the press. However, he's also fine with players circling them.

Chance Sisco's first swing today resulted in a three-run homer off Chase De Jong in the bottom of the first inning to provide an early lead.

Cedric Mullins led off with a walk, stole second base and advanced to third on catcher Tomás Telis' throwing error. Exactly the kind of baseball Hyde wants to play.

Joey Rickard walked with the count full, ducking to avoid a plunking, Renato Núñez struck out looking and Sisco drove a 1-1 pitch over the right field fence.

Sisco broke camp with the team last spring after slashing .429/.474/.800 with five doubles, a triple, two home runs and 10 RBIs in 18 games, but his bat cooled away from the Florida sun. He hit .181/.288/.269 in 63 games as a rookie, began to struggle behind the plate and was twice demoted to Triple-A Norfolk.

The kid is heating up again in spring training.

Rickard, starting in right field today, threw out Jake Cave going from first to third on Lucas Duda's single with one out in the third inning. Mike Wright allowed three singles but no runs.

Rickard failed to throw out a runner at third base in the second inning and the batter, Nick Gordon, moved up to second base.

Yefry Ramirez ran up his pitch count to 45 in two innings by my count before Wright replaced him. He allowed a run in the second on a leadoff walk by LaMonte Wade Jr., the St. Paul's School graduate who attended the University of Maryland, Gordon's one-out single and Telis' ground ball.

My unofficial count has Ramirez throwing 28 strikes among his 45 pitches. He allowed one run and two hits, walked two batters and struck out one.

(The Orioles have Ramirez at 44 pitches, 28 strikes. I'm stubborn and refuse to believe that I inadvertently added a pitch.)

Ramirez retired the first two batters on three pitches, with first baseman Stevie Wilkerson saving Núñez from committing a throwing error by coming off the bag to field the throw and slapping the tag on Ronald Torreyes' head.

Cave lined a single into left field and Ramirez walked Duda on seven pitches before striking out Tyler Austin. Ramirez threw 14 pitches after recording the second out.

Boog Powell threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Richard Bleier before heading back to the left field pavilion to greet fans and serve his barbeque with son J.W.

The Orioles held a moment of silence for Hall of Famer Frank Robinson after playing a video tribute.

Update: Núñez had a sacrifice fly in the third after Mullins doubled, and Yusniel Diaz launched a two-run homer to left field to increase the lead to 6-1.

Ramirez was happy to be on the mound today as a starter, but he lamented the high pitch count.

"I'm concentrating a little bit more in keeping my count down," he said via translator Ramón Alarcón. "I was missing too many pitches today. I'm going to continue to work on that."

Ramirez is focused on smoothing out his delivery and becoming more consistent with it.

"Every opportunity, every time I go out there, I'm trying to continue to improve, especially my mechanics," he said. "I realize the speed of the game was a little bit quick, but then I was able to take a breather and slow it down."