Baltimore Orioles: Opening Day Goes Largely As Expected

The Baltimore Orioles fell behind early and couldn’t catch up, dropping their Opening Day game to the New York Yankees.

It wasn’t the start to the season that we wanted to see from the Baltimore Orioles, but it was pretty much what we expected. Unable to recover from a Luke Voit three-run home run in the bottom of the first inning, the Orioles now find themselves 0-1 to begin the 2019 season.

The biggest takeaway from this contest? It was assumed that 2019 was going to be a very long season. It’s now confirmed.

It was hard not to be excited for this game, no matter how bad you believe the Baltimore Orioles will be in 2019. Opening Day is a special day, one where all fans are allowed to be hopeful and excited about what could possibly happen.

Unfortunately, the excitement quickly faded and reality instantly set in as starting pitcher Andrew Cashner allowed two quick hits in the bottom of the first before Yankees’ designated hitter Luke Voit unleased a Cashner pitch 428-feet to dead center to put the Yankees up 3-0.

Cashner finished the afternoon with a final line that reads: 4 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 4 BB, 3 K. He needed 75 pitches to get through four-plus innings, getting hit hard and often. Per Statcast, New York hitters recorded an average exit velocity of 96 mph on batted balls against Cashner. Five batted balls registered at 100+ mph, including 108 mph and 120 mph singles by Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, respectively, and Voit’s 112 mph home run which brought in both Judge and Stanton.

On the flip side, Masahiro Tanaka cruised his way through the Baltimore Orioles lineup, giving up one ER on six hits, walking none, and striking out five in 5.2 innings. O’s hitters struggled to make solid contact against him (average exit velocity of 86 mph). Only Dwight Smith Jr’s single and Trey Mancini’s RBI-double in the sixth inning did any damage against Tanaka.

Trey Mancini steps up for the Baltimore Orioles.

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Mancini was the one Oriole player to have himself a solid Opening Day, going 3-4 at the plate with an RBI and run scored. Despite a pinky injury that limited his spring at-bats and looking far from regular season ready in many of his at-bats once he did return, Mancini produced a few quality plate appearances, showing fantastic patience at the plate.

If Mancini is the new leader of this ballclub, he played the part well in game one of 162. His three hits accounted for a major chunk of the team’s hits on Thursday afternoon (eight total). Only Dwight Smith Jr, Jonathan Villar, Hanser Alberto, and Rio Ruiz picked up base hits. An RBI-single from Ruiz in the top of the fourth inning scored the first run of the season for the Orioles.

The six-nine hitters (Joey Rickard, Chris Davis, Jesus Sucre, Richie Martin, and pinch-hit from Renato Nunez) for the Orioles combined to go 0-15 with seven strikeouts, three of them coming from Chris Davis who went down swinging twice and looking once. Overall, the Orioles’ lineup drew just one free pass, while the pitching staff surrendered eight.

The series will take Friday off and resume with 1:05 pm starts for Saturday and Sunday’s games. Nate Karns climbs the mound to start for the Orioles in an “opener” role. Brandon Hyde has yet to declare who will follow Karns, but Jimmy Yacabonis and John Means appear to be the go-to arms. New York will counter with James Paxton who went 11-6 with a 3.76 ERA with the Seattle Mariners last season.