Walks wound Irvin in Orioles' 4-1 loss (updated)

Cole Irvin wound up on the seat of his pants and with a big smile on his face.

The mood was light early in tonight’s start. But would Irvin be able to handle a heavy workload and rest the bullpen?

Irvin was on the back end, as it were, of a 3-6-1 double play to conclude the top of the first inning. Aaron Judge walked with one out to extend his career-best on-base streak to 41 games, but Anthony Rizzo grounded to first baseman Ryan Mountcastle, who fired to shortstop Gunnar Henderson. The throw to first forced Irvin to stretch and lose his balance while keeping his left foot on the bag.

Got the out. Got a laugh out of it.

Getting deeper into his starts will make Irvin much happier. He lasted only 4 2/3 innings and threw 101 pitches in a 4-1 loss to the Yankees before an announced crowd of 30,561 at Camden Yards.

Giancarlo Stanton greeted Austin Voth with a 436-foot home run to left field, with an exit velocity of 116.3 mph. Voth retired the next six batters but has surrendered three home runs in his three appearances, and five runs total in 4 1/3 innings.

"This was encouraging for me," said manager Brandon Hyde. "Even though he center-cut one to Stanton, that was a mistake, but besides that, just really two bad pitches in the two innings we threw. We need Austin Voth. He was great for us last year, he's got really good stuff, so we've got to get him going."

Irvin walked one batter in 14 1/3 innings in spring training and exceeded two walks only once last year in 30 starts with the Athletics. He issued two free passes in his first Orioles start at Fenway Park and walked four batters tonight within 3 1/3 innings.

"Walks and deep counts, a lot of them," Hyde said.

"Not early contact. We need more early contact and he can stay in the game longer."

"I'm definitely not happy with the walks," Irvin said. "They cost us an extra inning out of the bullpen. I pride myself in getting deep in ballgames, giving the bullpen a day off, so I just didn't do enough today to allow them to rest a little bit more. Walks and deep counts, wasn't getting ahead of guys.

"I thought my stuff was really good. Making some adjustments since the last start and feel like I'm moving in the right direction. Just not getting ahead and walking too many guys right now. That will change."

Irvin said the walks aren't necessarily an "issue," a word used by a reporter during the post-game scrum.

"I'm missing by miniscule left and right, up and down," he said. "I mean, I'm not missing by much. It's not like I'm airmailing or throwing balls in the dirt very often. It's just an adjustment. It's part of my job to throw strikes and get outs. Didn't throw enough strikes. But at the end of the day, I know there was some success that I need to look at and build on." 

Gleyber Torres worked Irvin for 12 pitches in the fourth after Rizzo’s leadoff walk, and the Yankees finally took advantage with Aaron Hicks’ two-out, game-tying single. Kyle Higashioka struck out on Irvin’s 82^nd pitch.

Yankee fans had a much stronger and louder presence tonight compared to yesterday’s home opener. They erupted in the fifth after Anthony Volpe’s leadoff triple to right field, his first extra-base hit in the majors, and DJ LeMahieu’s tie-breaking double. A wild pitch and Judge’s fly ball to center increased the lead to 3-1.

Kyle Gibson worked seven innings in his last appearance, but no other Orioles starter has exceeded five-plus. Irvin didn’t record an out in the fifth in Boston after a 32-pitch first.

"We need to go deeper," Hyde said.

Anthony Santander finished a nine-pitch at-bat in the first with a long sacrifice fly to right field after singles by Cedric Mullins and Adley Rutschman. Rutschman’s ball caromed off rookie pitcher Jhony Brito, making his second major league appearance, and allowed the Orioles’ catcher to reach base for the 21^st time in 11 career games against the Yankees.

Rutschman raised the total to 23 with walks in the third and eighth.

Irvin threw 25 pitches in a scoreless second to increase his count to 42. A leadoff single and walk were followed by a strikeout and two fly balls.

The Yankees were retired in order in the third on 11 pitches, with Irvin striking out two batters, including Judge, who doubled off Voth in the seventh for his first hit of the series. Irvin retired six in a row before Rizzo’s walk in the fourth.

Keep playing with fire and you’ll get burned.

"I thought he had a little bit better command today than he did last start," Hyde said. "In those four walks, there were a lot of foul balls in there. But it was a 1-1 game there going into the fifth, and the bottom line tonight was we didn't have a whole lot of offense. ... We had one run and four hits. We didn't give ourselves a chance offensively."

"I knew I had to come ready today, and I most certainly did," Irvin said. "My focus, my preparation, everything was spot-on where it needed to be. But again, just too many pitches and some long ABs and some walks really dictated that outing. And a couple bad pitches there later in the start. I'll make the adjustments and we'll be in a better spot."

Henderson walked with one out in the fourth, stole second base, raced to third on Higashioka’s throwing error and was stranded. Ramón Urías led off the fifth with a single and was stranded.

Brito held the Orioles to one run and three hits in five innings after returning to the club this morning. He threw 92 pitches.

"He's got a really good changeup," Hyde said. "It's 96-97 with a really good changeup and flashes a breaking ball. But the changeup, for me, got better as the game went on a little bit."

* Kyle Stowers was on the bench again tonight against a right-hander, and he could stay there Sunday with the Yankees sending lefty Nestor Cortes to the mound.

The Athletics are starting lefties in the first three games of their upcoming series against the Orioles.

Stowers broke camp with the Orioles but has received only six plate appearances in three games. He pinch-hit in the ninth inning tonight, drew a walk against Clay Holmes, and is 0-for-4 with two walks and three strikeouts.

Terrin Vavra, a contact hitter coming off a highly productive spring training, started in right field for only the second time in the majors.

“We put a lot of thought into it,” Hyde said this afternoon.

“One of the big factors here is left field, so, understanding who’s on the mound, flyball pitcher, groundball pitcher. Kind of a lot that goes into the decision-making in the outfield, especially here with our park, with Boston in right field. So, take that into consideration. Also take, obviously, the opposing pitcher and who we feel like matches up the best against. I like to give Santander some rest, like to have him DH some days to try to keep him healthy throughout the entire season. So, all those factors come into play.”

Vavra hopped off the roster bubble down in Florida by slashing .348/.392/.565 with two doubles, a triple and two home runs in 16 games and boosting his exit velocity. He’s primarily a second baseman but capable of moving to shortstop and third base and also playing the outfield.

In the third inning tonight, he charged a line drive from LeMahieu that was 104.1 mph off the bat and made a diving catch to reward Hyde’s faith in him.

"I think every time you get out there you feel a little bit more comfortable," said Vavra, who had a 12-pitch at-bat in the fifth that ended with a strikeout. "There's still some things I would like to feel a little bit more comfortable with, but as far as being out there, coaches have confidence in me and that gives me confidence to go out there and keep learning and keep getting better."

“I’m looking to get Terrin some more playing time, honestly,” Hyde said. “I really like the at-bats that he gives. Our outfielders have swung the bat well and played well. We didn’t have a great defensive series in Boston, but those guys all swung the bat well. That was kind of a funky series, honestly, with the conditions and the glare and the shadows and the weather, and then the ballpark coming out of spring training. Just didn’t play our best, but we did swing the bat well. All those guys did. And wanted to keep a lot of those guys in the lineup, try to find time for some others, also.

“Terrin gives you consistent at-bats and he’s worked hard on his defense in the infield and the outfield.”

Here are the listed starters for the four-game series against Oakland:

Monday: Kyle Gibson vs. JP Sears
Tuesday: Grayson Rodriguez vs. Kyle Muller
Wednesday: Dean Kremer vs. Ken Waldichuk
Thursday: TBA vs. TBA

Irvin would be working on regular rest Thursday.

* James McCann caught all seven innings in the first game of High-A Aberdeen’s doubleheader and collected two more hits with an RBI and a walk. He could be activated from the injured list as early as Sunday.

Heston Kjerstad made another start at first base with Double-A Bowie. Jordan Westburg played left field for Triple-A Norfolk and finished with two hits and two RBIs, and Jackson Holliday was the second baseman for Single-A Delmarva and had a single and a diving catch.

Spenser Watkins held Gwinnett to an unearned run in five innings. The Tides tied a franchise record by scoring 11 runs in the sixth inning and won 21-2.

Hudson Haskin was 1-for-2 through the sixth with three RBIs, two walks, four runs scored and a hit-by-pitch. He had a two-run triple.

Maverick Handley had four hits and three RBIs, and Connor Norby had three hits and four RBIs. Lewin Díaz was 3-for-3 with two RBIs and three runs scored.

No one homered.