Kjerstad homers to opposite field, Morton tosses scoreless inning, Orioles deliver four-run eighth (O's win 8-7)

SARASOTA, Fla. – Orioles outfielder Heston Kjerstad knows that he’s getting a legitimate chance to make the club and to play on a much more regular basis. The rest is up to him.

End the shuttling between the majors and Triple-A Norfolk. Be used as the front office envisioned when it made him the second overall draft pick in 2020. Lots of right field and designated hitter. Anything to keep his bat in the lineup.

His statistics in the Grapefruit League aren’t supposed to really matter, but it doesn’t hurt to pad them anyway.

Kjerstad came to the plate this afternoon in the bottom of the second inning after Tyler O’Neill walked against Tigers starter and top prospect Jackson Jobe. The Orioles trailed 2-0, but Kjerstad knotted the score with an opposite-field home run.

Maybe he’s practicing for when he’s at Camden Yards, with the left field fence moved closer to home plate.

“Hopefully it’ll get out there,” he said. “I’m not sure how the fence looks. We’ll see it in person. But definitely, if I can hit the ball like that away, it should be good.”

Kjerstad also struck out and walked as the DH before exiting the game. He went 0-for-3 Sunday in Clearwater.

“That’s what we’re all trying to work on coming into camp as a team, as an offense, is we’re all trying to get our timing down,” he said. “Mine’s coming along. It’s not where I want it to be, which is expected just a couple games in the spring, but it’s been good, and every day just showing up, working on it. It’ll start clicking more and more every day the more pitches, the  more ABs.”

A myocarditis diagnosis kept Kjerstad off the field after the draft and he sustained a hamstring injury in an intrasquad game before his first camp. He was on a nice groove last season before the concussion.

Kjerstad is getting another fresh start. He’d like to finally avoid the interruptions.

“It’s a long season,” he said. “You’re going to get banged up here and there, but that’s part of the game. You’ve just got to keep getting back up and just keep playing.”

* The Orioles were overloaded with pitching this afternoon following yesterday’s rainout, with two members of their rotation getting into the game against the Tigers. They had to double up to avoid having someone throw indoors.

Charlie Morton was only a couple of batters into his start when Dean Kremer began warming in the bullpen. Morton allowed back-to-back, one-out singles to Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter, fielded a bouncer from Colt Keith to get the force at second base, and retired Spencer Torkelson on a popup.

Morton threw 17 pitches, 11 for strikes, in his only inning.

Kremer was supposed to start yesterday against the Braves. He was handed the second inning today and returned for the third. Meanwhile, Morton threw in the bullpen to increase his pitch count.

Morton was absent from camp one day due to an illness but returned for a side session before today’s outing.

“I stepped on a couple. I think the ball’s coming out pretty good,” Morton said.

“I was really trying to throw strikes and just kind of see where I was at. I got all my bullpens in. I missed a live BP because I was puking, and then I thought today could be a nice bridge from really only throwing that one live to the game. And I felt like my intensity, my intent, my effort, all that, was pretty appropriate for trying to be a little cautious but definitely trying to step on it a little bit.”

Spring trainings with new teams are becoming routine for Morton, 41, who pitched for the Pirates in 2015, Phillies in 2016, Astros from 2017-18, Rays from 2019-20 and Braves for the past four seasons.

The Orioles signed Morton to a $15 million contract.

“I played for four teams in the past seven years, you know? I’m kind of used to it. I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing,” he said.

“I’m a big team guy, I’m a big relationship guy, and that is one thing that I’ve struggled with through my career. I’ve gotten traded a couple times, I’ve signed one- and two-year deals now since 2015, basically. The past 10 years I’ve been one-, two-year deals, and that’s the one thing I don’t like about the business side of it is investing a lot emotionally and mentally into the human beings that I’m around and then basically be, ‘All right, see you guys. On to the next one.’

“I don’t have a blasé attitude about it. I don’t. But you kind of have to a little bit because you have to give as much of yourself as you have to the next group of guys and next organization that you’re with.”

Morton had a fuller day that it appeared by heading to the bullpen after Kremer replaced him.

“I treated it kind of like an up, down,” he said. “I threw eight warmup pitches and I threw another 13, I think, just to get some volume. It’s a really good way, too, because it’s a little bit lower intensity. And for me, spring is as much about the volume as anything. That’s a really useful thing to do.”

* Kremer retired the first two batters in the second inning but allowed a single to Zach McKinstry and two-run homer to Ben Malgeri. He struck out two batters in the frame.

Kremer loaded the bases in the fourth inning on a walk, single and walk, but he got a called third strike on Jake Rogers to escape the jam.  

Today’s outing enabled Kremer to stretch out to 46 pitches, 25 for strikes.

Seranthony Domínguez followed in the fourth and retired the first two batters. Trey Sweeney walked and Greene hit a two-run homer for a 4-2 lead. Carpenter singled before Domínguez recorded the last out.

Keegan Akin retired the side in order in the seventh, striking out one. Yennier Cano tossed a scoreless and hitless eighth with one strikeout.

The Tigers led 6-2 in the fifth on former Oriole Jahmai Jones’ RBI double off Gregory Soto, a wild pitch and Malgeri’s single. Cionel Pérez was greeted in the sixth by back-to-back doubles.

* Pinch-runner Enrique Bradfield Jr. flashed his speed in the sixth, going first to third on an error and coming home on Daz Cameron’s infield hit, but he also displayed some power with a two-run homer in the eighth after Dylan Carlson walked to cut the Tigers lead to 7-6. Terrin Vavra walked, stole second base and scored the tying run on Cameron’s double, and Jeremiah Jackson singled for an 8-7 lead … O’Neill flexed his muscle again in batting practice, launching baseballs to the building beyond the left field fence. He came to the plate twice in the game and drew two walks. … Jackson Holliday showed off his speed by reaching on an infield hit in the third, but he was thrown out trying to steal. … Adley Rutschman lined an opposite-field single into left in the third. … Maverick Handley replaced Rutschman and delivered a run-scoring double in the fifth. … Coby Mayo replaced Ryan O’Hearn at first base in the top of the fifth and prevented a throwing error from Vavra by leaping to make the catch and slapping the tag on Ryan Kreidler. … The announced crowd was 6,106.

* Tomoyuki Sugano starts Wednesday afternoon against the Pirates in Bradenton. Pittsburgh is starting left-hander Bailey Falter.

Grayson Rodriguez also makes his spring debut Thursday afternoon against the Blue Jays and former Orioles minor leaguer Easton Lucas in Sarasota. Zach Eflin’s debut is Friday afternoon against the Twins and right-hander Zebby Matthews in Fort Myers.

* The Orioles broadcast for the March 24 exhibition in D.C. will air on MASN2, and the Nationals broadcast can be found on MASN.

* Bryan Baker retired the side in order in the ninth and the Orioles won 8-7. Baker struck out a batter and inducted two popups. His fastball was sitting at 97 mph.

Manager Brandon Hyde on Kjerstad's opposite-field homer:
"Great piece of hitting. Fastball out over the plate. One thing Heston does well is use the whole field and he got a pitch to drive and put a great swing on that.

"He came in ready to go. It's great to see him use the whole field like we know he can. He's got big-time power to all fields, so he did that today."

Hyde on Morton:
"Pitched like a veteran's first outing. A ton of strikes, a lot of sinkers. Really good stuff for only one inning. Pitched like a guy who's been out there a lot of times."