This week proved how unpredictable the world can be. When the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed, it left two construction workers dead and four presumed dead, a city shocked and a community grappling with tragedy.
Amid the uncertainty Thursday was the consistency of baseball — opening day, a gem of a ballpark and one of MLB’s best young teams. Baltimore fans packed Camden Yards, and the Orioles rewarded them — and new owner David Rubenstein — with the first of what’s expected to be many wins this season.
Adley Rutschman, Corbin Burnes and the Orioles defeated the Los Angeles Angels, 11-3, in front of a sold-out Camden Yards crowd of 45,029. Rutschman continued his opening day success with a two-hit performance. Burnes, starting in his Orioles debut, dominated in historic fashion by striking out 11 while allowing just one run on one hit in six innings. Outfielders Anthony Santander and Cedric Mullins, veterans who survived the painful rebuild that led to the club’s current success, both blasted home runs in the first opening day at Camden Yards since 2018.
After winning 101 games and an American League East title last year, the Orioles are picking up right where they left off.
“It’s fun to be back and doing it in front of the fans,” Santander said. “It was awesome.”
Rubenstein doesn’t want Thursday’s win — or any regular-season triumph — to be all that’s celebrated in Charm City during his tenure as owner. During his introductory event Thursday before the game, the 74-year-old private equity billionaire made clear his intentions for his hometown team.
“Today is an easy day to say everything is great,” he said. “I don’t want this to be the high-water mark. I want the high-water mark to be in the fall when we go to the World Series.”
Rubenstein’s purchase of the club was made official by Major League Baseball on Wednesday. He and his large ownership group, which includes Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr., bought the club from the Angelos family in a deal that values the team at $1.725 billion.
Rubenstein, a Baltimore native, took part in the pregame festivities as fans filed in. He wore a custom jersey with No. 24 on the back for the 2024 season and watched as Ripken caught the first pitch. He and a few others from the ownership group yelled “play ball” shortly before Burnes took the mound and then mingled with fans. He watched as manager Brandon Hyde, whom Rubenstein called the “best manager in baseball,” and his players trotted onto the field via the orange carpet as fans cheered — the loudest for Gunnar Henderson and the team’s other stars.
“We want the leadership to be wanting the World Series as much as we do,” Henderson said of Rubenstein, who spoke to the Orioles’ clubhouse before the game. “I feel like he’s got the same mindset.”
Henderson and the other Orioles’ hitters didn’t waste any time proving that’s their goal.
The 2023 AL Rookie of the Year led off with a walk, advanced to third on Rutschman’s single and scored on a groundout from Santander to tie the game after superstar Mike Trout homered off Burnes in the top of the first. Jordan Westburg, Baltimore’s designated hitter, gave the Orioles their first lead of the season, celebrating his first opening day at-bat with an RBI single to score Rutschman.
The home run to Trout wasn’t remotely indicative of how the rest of Burnes’ day would go. The 29-year-old right-hander carved up the Angels’ lineup with his elite five-pitch pitch mix — mostly his 95 mph cutter, sharp slider and devastating curveball. In February, the Orioles acquired Burnes in one of the most significant offseason moves in franchise history, bringing in a bona fide ace to fortify a young rotation.
He was as advertised Thursday, and the Orioles are already getting what they bargained for.
“Couldn’t ask for any more than that,” Hyde said. “Awesome, awesome performance. It’s not easy to do. New team, opening day, lot of jitters. … To go out and do what he just did is pretty impressive.”
Burnes is the only pitcher in MLB history to allow just one hit while striking out at least 10 batters and not issuing a walk on opening day. The only Orioles pitchers to strike out as many on opening day as Burnes did Thursday are Mike Mussina in 1998 and Dave McNally in 1970. The only other pitcher in Orioles history to throw six-plus innings on opening day and allow no more than one hit is John Means in 2021.
Burnes, whom the Orioles acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers for prospects DL Hall and Joey Ortiz, is the 12th pitcher in Orioles history to record 11 strikeouts without issuing a walk in a game — a list that includes Jim Palmer, Mike Flanagan and Mussina.
“When you got all five pitches working it makes it fun,” Burnes said. “After about the second or third inning, I kind of went into cruise control mode and went ahead and tried to get quick outs.”
The Orioles added three more runs in the second off Angels starter Patrick Sandoval to bounce the left-hander after just 1 2/3 innings. Rutschman, who went 5-for-5 with a walk in his first opening day game last year, hit a two-run single to score Ramón Urías and Jorge Mateo, who reached on an error and doubled, respectively, to put the Orioles up 4-1. With the hit, Rutschman became the first MLB player to reach safely in each of his first eight career opening day plate appearances since 1972, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
After a 2-for-4 day at the plate, the star catcher is 7-for-9 with two walks on opening day in his career.
“It’s nice to get two hits. Would’ve been nice to get five,” Rutschman said with a chuckle.
After Santander hit a sac fly to score Rutschman in the second inning, the switch-hitter sent a fly ball over Oriole Park’s deep left field wall in the fourth for the first homer of Baltimore’s season. Santander, one of the Orioles’ best sluggers with 61 long balls over the past two seasons, is playing for a potentially lucrative contract as he will be a free agent in the offseason.
Mullins had an up-and-down 2023 season as he dealt with a nagging groin injury. He was one of the majors’ best players in 2021, and hoping he can return to that production in 2024, the center fielder started the year strong with a three-run homer to center field to blow the game open in the seventh.
Relievers Mike Baumann, Dillon Tate and Keegan Akin followed Burnes to pitch the final three innings. Tate, pitching in a big league game for the first time since 2022 after missing last season with an elbow injury, gave up two runs (one earned) on an RBI groundout with a throwing error by Mateo allowing a second to cross the plate. Akin, who missed the final half of 2023 with a back injury, pitched a scoreless ninth to send Baltimore fans home happy.
Between the two homers was a sacrifice fly from first baseman Ryan Mountcastle, who was one of the 10 Orioles hitters to either record a hit or a walk in the win. The 11 runs the Orioles scored are the second-most on opening day in club history.
“That’s the kind of offense we need to be,” Hyde said.
Two defining features of the 2023 Orioles were their comeback wins and avoidance of sweeps. Forty-eight of their 101 victories were in come-from-behind fashion, and their regular-season streak of not being swept dating to 2022 extended to 91, although the club was swept out of the playoffs in the AL Division Series by the eventual World Series champion Texas Rangers.
Thursday’s win was the first comeback of the season, and the sweep streak is up to 92.
“It was a fun atmosphere,” Hyde said. “It was a great way to start the year. But we have 161 more of these to go.”
Angels at Orioles
Saturday, 4:05 p.m.
TV: MASN
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM