Zimmermann makes himself at home in 2-0 win

The introduction began with the words “Baltimore’s own.” Family members wearing his Orioles jersey jumped to their feet behind home plate, raised their iPhones and captured the moment.
 
Bruce Zimmermann’s moment.
 
The local kid – Baltimore-born, Ellicott City resident, pitcher at Loyola Blakefield and Towson University – too busy warming in the bullpen to touch the orange carpet, but preparing to step on the rubber as the starter for the home opener.
 
Manager Brandon Hyde downplayed the sentimental reasons for choosing Zimmermann, and how they intertwined with such an important date on the calendar, but there wasn’t a more appropriate selection.
 
Hyde had the hook ready after a short spring training. Zimmermann might not make the middle innings, but he’d do his best to delay his departure.
 
A nine-pitch first inning, including a full-count changeup that froze Willy Adames for the strikeout. More screaming from his cheering section. A called third strike on the same pitch with Hunter Renfroe leading off the second, and Kolton Wong swinging through a slider to strand Tyrone Taylor after a two-out double – Zimmermann’s 30th pitch eliciting chants of “Bruuuce” from the crowd and fist-pumps from his loved ones.
 
Zimmermann escaped a bases-loaded jam in the third, and supplied four scoreless innings and a needed jolt after the weekend sweep by the Rays.
 
Hyde used four relievers to piece together a 2-0 victory over the Brewers before an announced sellout crowd of 44,461. Many hands needed to carry the load in the early portion of the season. Many of them reliable through four games.
 
Jorge López notched his second career save and first since 2019 with the Royals.
 
The Orioles hadn’t faced the Brewers since 2017, when they were swept in three games at Miller Park. They hadn’t hosted the Brewers since June 13-15, 2003, winning two of three with starters Sidney Ponson, Jason Johnson and Rodrigo López.
 
The teams hadn’t met in the Orioles’ home opener since May 1, 1995. Mike Mussina opposed Ricky Bones, and Milwaukee won 7-0.
 
Today marked the Orioles’ first shutout of the Brewers since June 26, 1995 in Milwaukee. It’s the first time they blanked the Brewers at home since Aug. 21, 1989.
 
Zimmermann retired the first two batters in the third inning, but Andrew McCutchen doubled and back-to-back walks brought pitching coach Chris Holt to the mound. Renfroe bounced to third on Zimmermann’s 54th pitch of the game. No one moved in the ‘pen.
 
A leadoff single by Keston Hiura in the fourth did no damage, except Dillon Tate began to warm with two outs after Cedric Mullins ran down Wong’s line drive in right-center. Mike Brosseau flied out and Zimmermann was done at 66 pitches.
 
“Zim pitched extremely well,” Hyde said. “I thought he had really good stuff. Good breaking ball, good changeup, kept guys off-balance, worked ahead in the count. Just really efficient, and four great innings.”
 
Zimmermann was the fourth Maryland native to start a home opener for the Orioles, and the first since Dave Johnson in 1990. He’s the first to do it at Camden Yards.
 
The Brewers had three hits against him and walked twice. Zimmermann struck out four – three on his changeup.
 
“It’s pretty hard to describe, to be honest with you,” Zimmermann said. “Even better than I could have imagined it going. I mean, it was perfect weather, sold out crowd, all of my family that could make it was here. Friends that I’m really close with, friends that I might have played years ago with came out. Messages I received were all incredibly special and meant a lot to me. And then, of course, we got a really awesome win, opening day, that’s what everybody wants at home. All in all, it was everything that I could have asked for and more.”
 
Zimmermann didn’t want until today to stroll onto the field. He did it after the team arrived last night from St. Petersburg, saying he “snuck” on it.
 
“I walked on the mound and tried to imagine what today would be like,” he said. “Then I tried almost to put it out of my mind this morning when I got here, tried to go about my normal routine and take care of business. Obviously, the nerves were still there, but the best way to go about them, in my opinion, is to feel as much as you can and not let it get too big. It was staying in the moment one pitch at a time.
 
“I think I handled it all right. Internally, it was a lot going on, but once I got out there and got through that first inning, kind of settled down. There was a lot of adrenaline to go. It was just kind of getting that first inning under my belt and it went well, and from there trusting my defense, making pitches. It was just playing baseball again.”
 
The day ranked with his major league debut, maybe a little more with the environment, first time seeing the ballpark so full as a player.
 
“It was incredibly special,” he said.
 
“That first inning, that punchout and walking off and hearing the Bruce chant and everything, that really kind of hit and fired me up a little bit more.”
 
Mike Baumann followed with 2 1/3 scoreless innings, only one hit allowed and one walk. He retired seven of the last eight batters.
 
Tate inherited a runner with one out in the seventh and Victor Caratini singled, but he escaped the jam with a long fly ball and liner to short. Left-hander Cionel Pérez got a big 6-4-3 double play to close the eighth and give him eight scoreless innings, counting spring training.
 
Mullins received his Silver Slugger Award to close out the pregame festivities, then struck out for the eighth time in 12 at-bats.
 
Anthony Santander walked with two outs, and Taylor robbed Trey Mancini of an extra-base hit and RBI by making a spectacular running catch and slamming into the wall. He landed on the warning track. The ball never touched it.
 
Taylor was a pest in center field, also running down Austin Hays’ deep liner with Ramón Urías on second base with one out in the second inning. But Jorge Mateo and Robinson Chirinos walked, and Mullins lined Adrian Houser’s sinker into center field for a 2-0 lead – the club’s first in 2022.
 
Mateo raced home with the second run, popped out of his slide and slapped his hands together. The place got loud.
 
“It got me excited, it got me hyped over there at first base,” Mullins said. “I saw Mateo’s reaction. We’re really into it. We’re trying go out there and play hard every single day and get some wins.”
 
“One of the louder moments here since I’ve been here, and a lot of fun,” Hyde said. “I know we have passionate fans and they were into the game today.
 
“The energy in the ballpark was fantastic. Crowd was great. It was fun to hear Orioles fans cheering, and a lot of them. I thought our guys fed off the energy. I was concerned that Zim and Mike might be a little too amped up, and I think Mike was when he first got out there, but he really settled in, and both guys handled it extremely well.”
 
The Orioles were 2-for-24 with runners in scoring position at Tropicana Field and 0-for-1 today before Mullins’ single. They were starved for a clutch hit.
 
They also were barreling Houser. Mancini’s ball in the first had an exit velocity of 104.9 mph, per Statcast, and Hays’ ball in the second registered 105.2 mph. Mullins’ single topped them at 109 mph.
 
Santander led off the third with a double and was stranded. So was Mateo after a one-out single in the fourth, when Brewers manager Craig Counsell replaced Houser with Aaron Ashby.
 
Ryan Mountcastle and Santander opened the fifth with walks, but a fly ball and Urías double play grounder stifled another rally. The Orioles put two more runners on base in the sixth on Rougned Odor’s leadoff single and a two-out error, but Mullins lined to Ashby. Another scorcher, this one 99 mph off the bat, with no return.
 
A fan sitting in front of the press box yelled, “Are you serious?”
 
Going 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position at that point, eight runners stranded, was no laughing matter.
 
“We hit a ton of balls on the nose,” Hyde said. “The luck was not going our way offensively. Give Taylor credit for making two really great plays that cost us runs. We squared up a lot of balls, didn’t have a whole lot to show for it except for the Ced RBI single. But we pitched and played defense today and that was the key.”
 
Santander reached base for a fourth time with a one-out single in the seventh inning, but he, too, was grounded.
 
Hays reached with one out in the eighth on Adames’ throwing error – Hyde argued for Hays to be awarded second base, but the ground rule states a ball over the camera well is an extra base – Chirinos walked with two outs and the lead held at 2-0.
 
It stayed that way, with Baumann earning the win because Zimmermann didn’t complete the fifth. Maybe next time.
 
Nothing was going to ruin this day.
 
The Orioles won their first game of the season. Relish won the condiment race after starting 0-34 last year. The 2-0 score was the same as their victory in the inaugural game at Camden Yards 30 years ago. Home sweet home.
 
“It was huge,” Mullins said. “We were trying to bring a lot of energy to the games every day, and being the home opener is always a special day for us, and it was great to secure a W.”
 
Said Hyde: “We’ve got to give them something to cheer about, and we’ve got to give them something to root for, and I thought we did today. That’s kind of the blueprint of bringing energy to the ballpark is the type of baseball we’re playing.”