Mayo pleased with approach and waiting for results to follow

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Coral Springs native Coby Mayo received only six ticket requests for his first major league game in his home state. His parents, two brothers and some friends comprised his most intimate cheering section last night.

They didn’t get to watch him play.

Mayo sat for the second straight game, but tonight offers the possibility of his fifth start and sixth appearance.

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde won’t bury Mayo on the bench and he won’t write the rookie’s name on every lineup card. Hyde is searching for favorable matchups at the plate and third base.

Mayo is searching for his first hit. He’s 0-for-13 with two walks, both in his debut in Cleveland – and eight strikeouts. He’s simply the latest highly-rated prospect in the organization to make an entrance and stumble. Some of them figure it out without going back down and others, like Jackson Holliday this year and Colton Cowser in 2023, need a reset.

“I think it’s just, speed picks up a little bit,” Mayo said. “The catchers and pitchers are really good at recognizing where their strengths are and what my weaknesses are and they attack them. You have to prove that you can make an adjustment, and they’re going to attack those spots.

“Defensively, it’s a very fast game. Everyone’s fast. There are no easy outs. There’s a lot of people in the crowd. It’s the major leagues, it speeds up a little bit. It’s different than Triple-A.”

The early book on Mayo is to feed him sliders, go down and away, stay off the barrel and away from his enormous power.

“I’ve had some good at-bats spitting on those pitches,” he said. “I’ve worked in some really good counts, hit some balls hard. Unfortunately, right at people sometimes. Or you’re getting your pitches and you’re fouling them off, which, you need to do damage with those pitches when they’re leaving them in the zone, especially the fastballs. So just a combination of a few good swings right at guys and swinging at pitches that are getting me in bad counts. It’s tough.”

Mayo swung at a first-pitch slider Wednesday night after striking out in his first two at-bats and lined to shortstop at 104.3 mph. That’s the bad luck part of his experience. But if fishing for positives, it happened on a pitch that’s supposed to leave him catching only air.

Through it all, Mayo has stayed confident in his abilities and reminded himself not to press and make it worse.

“Like I said the first day, I was talking to Jackson about it,” Mayo said. “I thought my first game was really good, working the three 3-2 counts, two walks. I kind of felt like those walks were almost hits because it’s almost harder to walk. They’re really good pitchers and throwing to really experienced catchers. Yeah, the walks felt good.

“I think once the first one falls it’ll kind of take a little weight off your shoulders. But I haven’t really thought about the hit much. I know I hit .300 in Triple-A. It’s a lot different in Triple-A but I know what kind of hitter I am and what kind of hitter I’m hopefully going to be in this league.”

Hyde recognized the number of players who were new to Tropicana Field and all of its quirks. Players were tasked with early infield drills to get more accustomed to the turf, which differs from Rogers Centre, and practiced catching the ball without losing it in the dome.

Ground rules are recited to explain what happens if it hits one of the catwalks.

“It’s weird because Toronto’s turf was almost like, it kind of hits it and slows down a little bit, but then when it gets toward the clay, it has some hard spots,” Mayo said. “Every place is different. This turf is going to play different than in Toronto. That’s why you always want to go out there early and get a feel for the turf or the grass and the dirt and how it plays.

“When we get to Baltimore it’s going to be the same thing. Get a feel for the grass and talking to Ramón (Urías) a little bit and seeing how he likes these feels and what he has opinions on. Just talking and communicating and asking questions.”

The roof at Rogers Centre was open for the first two games to deny Mayo the indoor experience. He has no choice at Tropicana Field, as long as he gets a start at third base.

“You’re gonna have to go out there and get a feel for it,” he said. “Every batter’s eye is different, every stadium’s different in their own ways, so it makes it unique and cool.”

The reception for Mayo will be even louder tonight. Maybe he hears it only during batting practice and in the handshake line if the Orioles win. Maybe it's during his introductions before each at-bat.

“I think I’ll have more family here just with it being the weekend,” he said. “It should be a fun weekend.”

* Last night’s game pitted Zach Eflin against Zack Littell and provided STATS with a trivia opportunity.

Name the Zach and Zack with the most career wins in the majors. Answer below.

* Colton Cowser homered in his first at-bat and could be seen shaking his hand after striking out in the next one.

“He gets a little nerve deal," Hyde said, "and it’s like a little stinger and it goes away.”

Cowser struck out four times after his leadoff home run, which seemed unusual to me. I checked with STATS and he's the first Orioles player to do it.

Strikeouts have been comprehensively tracked since 1913. A leadoff homer followed by four strikeouts has happened only seven other times: The Giants' Chili Davis in 1982, the Dodgers' Devon White in 2000, the Giants' Ray Durham in 2003, the White Sox's Alejandro De Aza in 2013, the Twins' Brian Dozier in 2017, the Cardinals' Dexter Fowler (an almost Oriole) in 2019, and the Royals' Nick Pratto in 2023.

* The Orioles have hit at least two home runs in a club-record six straight games at Tropicana Field.

Overall, their streak of at least one homer in the dome in six consecutive games is their longest since May 4-Sept. 28, 2009.

Answer: Zach Duke (69), followed by Zach Davies (60) and Eflin (60).

Zack Greinke is the runaway winner among the Ks with 225, followed by Zack Wheeler (98). Former Oriole Zack Britton is on the list with 35 because he switched to his legal name.