With the Orioles securing their first win of the 2022 season in a 2-0 final over Milwaukee on Monday, I’ve offered a dozen thoughts, each in 50 words or less:
1. Thirty years and five days after winning the inaugural game at Camden Yards, Baltimore won by the same score. Instead of Rick Sutcliffe going the distance in just 2 hours, 2 minutes, five Orioles pitchers combined for the shutout in just under 3 1/2 hours. Baseball sure has changed.
2. Loyola Blakefield graduate Bruce Zimmermann fulfilled a boyhood dream starting the home opener and got three of his four strikeouts using his impressive changeup. The lefty threw only 66 pitches, but that was Brandon Hyde’s plan with pitchers not fully stretched out after an abbreviated spring.
3. Opening Day lacked its typical buzz until Cedric Mullins delivered the two-run single in the second and made an impressive running catch to save a run two innings later. It was cool seeing the 2021 All-Star center fielder shine on the same day he was presented his Silver Slugger Award.
4. Those heroics came despite Mullins striking out two more times to bring his four-game total to nine. That’s nothing over which to panic, of course, but it does follow a rough spring for the 2021 Most Valuable Oriole, who went 5-for-30 with 11 strikeouts in Grapefruit League action.
5. The Orioles are 3-for-34 with runners in scoring position through four games, but seven of the 10 balls they put in play with exit velocities of at least 95.0 mph resulted in outs on Monday. That’s an improvement on the weak contact we saw throughout the sweep at Tampa Bay.
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6. Over 2 1/3 innings that included three strikeouts, Mike Baumann averaged just under 97 mph on his fastball and got Christian Yelich looking on a nasty curve. His velocity is up from last year, which easily makes the 26-year-old one of the most interesting pitchers on the staff.
7. One of the few offensive bright spots over the weekend, Anthony Santander continued his hot start with two hits and two walks. Hyde summed it up nicely after the game by saying, “With Tony, it’s about swinging at strikes.” Santander entered Monday with a career .292 on-base percentage.
8. I’m interested to see Jorge Lopez as a reliever with a sinker that touched 98 mph and a nasty knuckle curve that struck out Tyrone Taylor in the ninth. It’s clear he belongs in the bullpen after struggling mightily to go through a lineup more than once in previous seasons.
9. If you’d told me in the offseason that Cionel Perez — claimed off waivers from Cincinnati in November — would pitch a scoreless eighth to help protect a 2-0 lead for the Orioles in the home opener, I would have replied, “Who?” Three swinging strikes on nine pitches should warrant some attention.
10. Prior to the game, there was no shortage of clubhouse chatter from players and reporters about the new left field wall, but there wasn’t a single batted ball that brought the new dimensions into play. Hyde said it reminds him of PNC Park in Pittsburgh, which is a popular sentiment.
11. I normally don’t care about announced attendance with my assumption that all teams fudge their numbers a bit from time to time, but the Orioles claiming a sellout and 44,461 fans being on hand doesn’t hold up unless upwards of 10,000 spectators came to the ballpark dressed as green seats.
12. After suffering their first 0-3 start since 2007, the Orioles could exhale after a good win against a Brewers club that won 95 games last year. Nobody understands a winless streak to open a season quite like Baltimore, and that 19-game slide last August created more than enough 1988 chatter.
