BALTIMORE—The Los Angeles Angels ran into a buzz saw named Corbin Burnes in a Major League Baseball season-opener Thursday, March 28, at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
Burnes’ debut in Baltimore was everything his new team could have wanted. The Orioles’ new ace was excellent—and their offense showed why they are the reigning American League East division champions.
“One bad pitch through six innings. Just awesome, awesome performance,” Baltimore Manager Brandon Hyde said. “That’s not easy to do. New team, opening day, a lot of jitters, probably pretty anxious, and go out and do what he just did is really impressive.”
Burnes allowed one baserunner in a dominant six innings, and Anthony Santander and Cedric Mullins hit home runs as the Orioles began their division defense with an 11–3 rout of the Angels.
Mike Trout hit a first-inning home run off Burnes, but the Angels managed nary a peep against the big Baltimore right-hander after that. Burnes (1–0) struck out 11 in his first start after the Orioles acquired him from the Milwaukee Brewers in an offseason trade.
“It’s kind of one of those days where everything lines up, that you kind of got everything working. It becomes a really fun day,” Burnes said. “You can kind of do some things that you don’t normally do when you don’t have everything working.”
Burnes joined Bob Gibson of the 1967 St. Louis Cardinals as the only pitchers with at least 11 strikeouts, no walks and one or fewer runs allowed on opening day.
“He did exactly what a real good pitcher does,” said the Angels’ Ron Washington, back managing a big-league team for the first time in a decade. “You give him a lead. They know how to take it to the finish line.”
Baltimore’s Adley Rutschman, who had five hits and a walk on opening day last year in Boston, started off this season with hits in the first and second innings, then later drew a walk. He scored three runs, and Santander drove in four.
Santander hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning and Mullins added a three-run shot in the seventh for the Orioles, who brought back a young core that won 101 games last year. They figure to add another top prospect soon whenever infielder Jackson Holliday comes up from the minors.
Baltimore also began a new era when David Rubenstein bought control Wednesday from the Angelos family that had owned the team since 1993.
For the Angels, the future isn’t nearly as rosy after the departure of two-way star Shohei Ohtani to the Los Angeles Dodgers during the offseason.
Trout still can be an MVP-caliber player if healthy, but Los Angeles wasn’t competitive in this one. Patrick Sandoval (0–1) got only five outs while making the start on opening day—a role filled by Ohtani the past two years. Sandoval allowed three earned runs and six hits.
Baltimore scored twice in the first. Then Rutschman hit a two-run single in the second and scored on Santander’s sacrifice fly to make it 5–1.
“The quality of the at-bats that we were taking early in the game was unbelievable for me,” Mr. Hyde said. “Just the way we were laying off close pitches. Sandoval’s not easy to hit.”
