A series that began with Kyle Bradish limping to the training room in the second inning, his right foot introduced to a 104 mph line drive from the Rangers’ Jonah Heim, concluded with some promising developments.

Also a loss, but the Orioles won the series.

These are some reminders that strong reactions less than a week into a season often tend to become overreactions.

* Tyler Wells got the deserved glory in Monday's opener by throwing five scoreless and hitless innings in emergency relief, pitching when he was supposed to be readying for his start the following night.

Manager Brandon Hyde could have pushed Wells into the ninth with the right-hander dominating and at 47 pitches, including 33 for strikes. Seemed like the safest move with the bullpen still trying to recover from excessive use in Boston. But Hyde called upon Félix Bautista, who allowed runs in the first two games of the Red Sox series, including Adam Duvall’s walk-off homer.

BOSTON – The Orioles came within a pitch, an out, a fly ball, of guaranteeing a series win at Fenway Park and wound up losing two of three games.

Baseball isn’t boring. It’s just so darn unpredictable and doesn’t care about your feelings.

The 2022 season began with three losses at Tropicana Field, and the Orioles contended for the wild card until the final week. In that sense, they’re further ahead in 2023.

Here are some leftover topics and observations as they get ready for the Rangers, who already won their opening series against the defending National League champion Phillies before the teams played again last night.

Impact of bigger bases blown out of proportion.
At least so far.

BOSTON – Adley Rutschman lined a single into left field in the first inning today, his determination growing to reach base in every plate appearance in 2023. To keep spinning major league and franchise records.

The ball left Rutschman’s bat at 109 mph, and it was a foreshadowing of things to come against Chris Sale. But there was no way to predict what would happen in the ninth inning.

No lead is safe at Fenway Park, but this?

Félix Bautista retired the first two batters, but Ryan McKenna dropped a fly ball from Masataka Yoshida and Adam Duvall lined a ball to the first row above the Green Monster for a stunning 9-8 win over the Orioles.

"Ran to it pretty hard, it was up in the sky, and I guess I just didn't follow all the way through with it," McKenna said. "It hit the (heel) of my glove and just fell out. It was unfortunate timing. Bautista was throwing a hell of an inning there and all of our guys were really working hard to give us a chance to win that game. Just tough timing."

BOSTON – The Orioles can’t just sit on their 1.000 winning percentage as if it’s a papasan shaped like their loss total in 2023. They’ll have to play another game. Maybe the rain gods will get their own off-day, or we’ll have to wait a little longer. But it’s happening.

The beauty of yesterday’s prearranged break is it allows fans, though eager for an immediate follow up, to reflect a little more on Opening Day. To savor the sensation of a 10-9 win and catcher Adley Rutschman’s historic performance.

Rutschman soaked up a spotlight that he didn’t pursue. He kept trying to step aside of it while staying in the MASN camera frame. Happy for the win. The most important thing. Don’t lose sight of it within the glare of a 5-for-5 day that included a home run and walk.

Guilty as charged. He was the main story. But let’s explore a few other nuggets from Thursday afternoon. They’ve been kept on ice, which seems right with a game time temperature of 38 degrees.

(OK, that’s above freezing, but don’t overthink it.)

A player who has dealt with enormous expectations for a long time, O’s catcher Adley Rutschman delivered an enormous performance on his first major league Opening Day as the Orioles held off Boston 10-9 at Fenway Park. 

Rutschman hit a solo homer in the first, delivered a two-run single in the fifth and singled in a run in the seventh. It was a 5-for-5 game and he walked once to reach base six times while driving in four runs.

Rutschman is the first player to go 5-for-5 or better with at least four RBIs on Opening Day, and he's only the third to go 5-for-5 with multiple RBIs in an opener since 1920, joining Hall of Famers Babe Ruth and Billy Herman. Rutschman is the first Orioles catcher to homer on Opening Day since Matt Wieters in 2013. He is also the youngest Oriole to homer on Opening Day since Adam Jones in 2010, and the youngest to do it in his first at-bat since Cal Ripken Jr. in 1984.

Pretty historic day for the player that was the unanimous winner of the Most Valuable Oriole award in 2022 and who finished second to Seattle’s Julio Rodríguez for the American League Rookie of the Year honor.

"Not a bad way to have your first one," Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. "Swung the bat great, caught outstanding, gives us an early boost homer there right away in the first inning."

Finally, the 2023 regular season is almost here. We’re counting down hours at this point and it’s great. Baseball that counts and a potentially very exciting season of Orioles baseball is about to begin. 

They gained 31 wins last year, finished 83-79 and were just three games out of an American League playoff berth. The last time they won more than 83 was also the last time they made the playoffs, as an AL wild-card team with 89 wins in 2016.

As the pursuit of a playoff berth begins for real tomorrow, here are a few things the Orioles no doubt hope goes well for the club in the season ahead. It is just a partial list.

Stay healthy: Captain Obvious called to suggest I didn’t need to state this one, but I did anyway. The Captain was not amused. Yes, every team could use good overall health over six months and 162 games. Some teams have a larger margin for error however. But key injuries can make the difference in the standings. The Tampa Bay Rays will begin the year without right-hander Tyler Glasnow, who could debut in May. The Yankees, who won the AL East by seven games with 99 victories last year, will be down a few starting pitchers to begin the season including lefty Carlos Rondón. He has a left elbow strain and is expected to begin the year on the injured list but could return before April is out.

The Orioles are a deeper organization on Opening Day 2023 than a year ago, but still likely need most of their key players to stay on the field to truly have a postseason shot. Getting John Means back in July, if he meets that projection and is throwing well, could be a big lift as someone coming off the IL.

BRADENTON, Fla. – Mychal Givens played catch this afternoon for the second consecutive day to test his left knee, but reliever and team are no closer to knowing whether he can make the Opening Day roster.

Givens hasn’t pitched since March 16 and the Orioles want him to face hitters at least one more time before breaking camp. They could arrange a simulated game on the Camden Yards field.

“Still taking it day-by-day, just trying to make sure everything’s good,” Givens said this afternoon when asked for an update on the knee.

“It went well yesterday and he got treatment today,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “I think it’s feeling OK. As of right now we don’t have any more plans than yesterday went well, see how he was today, he was going to play catch again today, and see if we get him in a game or back field or something.”

Givens didn’t know his schedule beyond today’s flat ground session or have a true sense of whether he could avoid the injured list.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Orioles reliever Mychal Givens is throwing on flat ground today to test his left knee. His status for Opening Day won’t be resolved this quickly.

“Unsure at this point,” manager Brandon Hyde said this afternoon.

The bullpen already had a few pockets of uncertainty and Givens is the latest complication. He was a lock until the discomfort surfaced, and he hasn’t pitched in a week.

The Orioles have used Givens in four games, holding back his first appearance until March 6.

Grayson Rodriguez has struggled in the fourth inning in his last two starts, and he’s allowed six earned runs and nine total with 10 hits in his last two outings covering 6 2/3 innings.

DUNEDIN, Fla. – Veteran reliever Mychal Givens has slipped out of lock status.

Givens hasn’t pitched since Thursday due to a sore left knee, which manager Brandon Hyde revealed this morning. Givens has made only four appearances with the Orioles this spring, allowing an unearned run in four innings and striking out seven batters.

“Hoping he gets on the back field in a couple days,” Hyde said.

Asked whether the knee could impact Givens’ availability on Opening Day, Hyde said, “Hopefully not.”

“It just got sore,” Hyde said, “and so we’re taking some precautionary measure against it, taking it easy with him, and hopefully he’ll be able to break with us.”

CLEARWATER, Fla. – The lower-back discomfort is behind DL Hall.

So are the bullpen sessions in Sarasota and the simulated game that prepared him for today’s exhibition debut at BayCare Ballpark.

Manager Brandon Hyde wanted to give Hall two innings this afternoon against the Phillies, but the club’s No. 2 pitching prospect was done after 1 2/3. He retired the side in order in the sixth but allowed three runs (one earned) and three hits with a walk in the seventh. Hall threw 43 pitches, 28 for strikes.

“Just good to toe the rubber again,” he said, “so can’t complain.”

Hall struck out Brandon Marsh on a 94.1 mph fastball and Edmundo Sosa on an 81.1 mph curveball in the sixth and used his changeup to retire Josh Harrison on a fly ball. His fastball topped out at 95.8 mph.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Just as the Orioles appear closer to deciding on their eight relievers for Opening Day, they toss another grenade into the projections and mocks that already are ill-equipped to instill absolute confidence.

I’m expanding my locks to six, with Dillon Tate absent due to the forearm strain that’s kept him out of games but closer Félix Bautista back in the mix.

Bautista is pitching later today against the Phillies in Clearwater, increasing his number of games and innings to three. He’s expected to make another appearance Thursday night against the Tigers in Sarasota. The big man inching closer to that charter flight to Boston.

Cionel Pérez, Mychal Givens and Bryan Baker already were secure. Baker had a nice bounce back outing yesterday with a scoreless sixth inning, striking out a batter and allowing just a soft single from Ji-Man Choi to the opposite field. He retired Oneil Cruz and Carlos Santana on fly balls and fanned Bryan Reynolds.

Baker insisted that felt good on the mound and the results would get better. Not an ounce of concern from the reliever or anyone else in the organization. And yesterday proved why.

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Orioles manager Brandon Hyde wants to get closer Félix Bautista three or four more appearances until the club breaks camp. Availability for Opening Day looks promising.

Bautista has retired all six batters faced in his first two outings, striking out four and totaling 24 pitches. Almost too efficient.

“I feel really confident with how things have been going,” he said this morning via translator Brandon Quinones. “I’ve been trying to focus heavily on attacking hitters, working on my secondary pitches to make them more effective, and I feel like things have been going really well and I feel confident.”

Bautista said he feels great today after retiring the Twins in order yesterday on only nine pitches.

“Just talked to our training staff,” Hyde said. “He responded very well from yesterday’s game, so love where he is right now.”

FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Orioles responded to the Twins hitting back-to-back home runs today by launching three in a row to begin the third inning.

Muscle flexed in Fort Myers as if an exhibition game had turned into a pose down.

Jordan Westburg cleared the center field fence with a 419-footer off Tyler Mahle. Daz Cameron tied the game with a shot to left that traveled a mere 386 feet. And Colton Cowser topped them all by depositing an 82.4 mph cutter over the batter’s eye in center.

His estimated distance: 476 feet. The crowd’s reaction: An audible gasp.

Cowser also produced an exit velocity of 106 mph with a 27-degree launch angle, per the Statcast data. The naked eye didn’t need any numbers. It was a “wowzer” moment.

I’m flying back into Sarasota this afternoon, with the only off-day of spring training allowing for a later arrival time.

The Twins have three off-days and the Rays have two. How did the Orioles miss out on this?

No rainouts so far, and just one split-squad game with a delayed start while the other was halted early.

The camp roster is down to 51 players after the Orioles optioned left-hander Drew Rom on Monday and optioned shortstop Joey Ortiz and reassigned shortstop Jackson Holliday, infielder Connor Norby and pitcher Kyle Dowdy the following day.

Rom was a long shot to make the Opening Day roster and appeared in only one exhibition game, with the rest of his work done on the back fields. He’s returning to Triple-A Norfolk, with the possibility of making his major league debut this summer.

BRADENTON, Fla. – It had to be a pleasing sight to everyone in an Orioles uniform today as they played the Pittsburgh Pirates in Bradenton. Closer Félix Bautista was back on the mound and was touching 99 mph and throwing pitches by hitters in his spring debut.

To better control exactly when he would pitch today, the Orioles had Bautista start the game and would let him throw as many as 25 pitches. He needed just 15 in a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts. His fastball averaged 97.9 mph and topped at 99.0. He looked as good as he had last year.

“Fastball velocity was there, good splits,” manager Brandon Hyde said after the game. "His first time out and it looked like he had been out there for a while. Real positive for today.

"Let's see how he is tomorrow and after his next few outings, but today went as well as it possibly could."

The Orioles won the game 7-6 heading into an off-day on Wednesday to improve their spring record to 2-1-1 versus Pittsburgh and 8-9-2 for the spring overall.

BRADENTON, Fla. – The Orioles have taken the short ride north for their latest road game, taking on the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Orioles (7-9-2) split two games on Monday, beating Detroit 11-7 at home and losing to Atlanta 6-5 in North Port in a game that was shortened to seven innings by rain.

The Orioles hit eight homers yesterday, six in Sarasota and two in North Port. They have scored 67 runs the past 10 games. 

Orioles closer Félix Bautista will make his long-awaiting spring debut today and is scheduled to pitch the first inning after being held out of games to this point. He has thrown several bullpen sessions and checked all the boxes he needed to get to this point. Now the Orioles hope the final two weeks plus will be enough time for him to be ready for Opening Day and they are confident he will be. It’s a nice step for him today here in Bradenton.

Right-hander Tyler Wells (0-1, 7.71 ERA) is expected to follow Bautista to the mound this afternoon at LECOM Park. Wells has allowed four runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings. He last pitched last Thursday in Clearwater against the Phillies allowing one run over 2 2/3 innings. Bruce Zimmermann is also scheduled to pitch for the Orioles.

Terrin Vavra, who is batting .474 (9-for-19) is leading off today and playing second base. Adley Rutschman hits second and will catch. Heston Kjerstad, who hit his third homer Monday against Atlanta, will bat eighth and play in right field and Colton Cowser hits ninth and plays in center.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said lefty Keegan Akin “has thrown the ball as well as anyone in camp, this whole time.” He likes Akin’s mid-90s velocity, his breaking pitches and said he is having a great camp.

Akin appreciates hearing that, but after a second half in 2022 where his stats fell off, he is trying to get back in attack mode on the mound and find the form he had in the first half last year.

Before the All-Star break, the 27-year-old Akin had an ERA of 2.36, WHIP of 0.881 and OPS against of .580. But in the second half, his ERA jumped to 4.76 with a 1.482 WHIP and .768 OPS against.

This spring he has thrown five scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk with five strikeouts. In the fifth and sixth here against Boston on Sunday, he threw two scoreless, retiring six of seven batters.

“Just throwing strikes,” he said this morning in the Baltimore clubhouse of his solid spring to this point. “It is something I could praise myself for the beginning of the year last year. Feel like I got away from that in the second half and paid for it. Trying to get back on track, throw strikes and fill the zone up. It has worked so far.

DUNEDIN, Fla. – The Orioles will be without infield prospect Joey Ortiz for likely a few days at least. Manager Brandon Hyde told reporters here today at TD Ballpark that Ortiz is now in concussion protocol. He took a bad-hop groundball off his head in drills a few days ago and has not yet been cleared to return to the field.

The club’s fourth-round pick in the 2019 draft, Ortiz is 3-for-12 with a double, triple, one run scored and two RBIs in six spring games.

He is ranked as the No. 66 prospect in the FanGraphs.com top 100 list and is also rated No. 71 by ESPN, No. 95 via Baseball America and The Athletic and No. 99 by MLBPipeline.com.

Left-hander Cole Irvin threw to hitters today on an Ed Smith Stadium back-field, Hyde said, but he did not get a chance to see the outing before he headed to today’s game. Nor did he have a report yet on it.

O’s lefty pitching prospect  DL Hall was also scheduled to throw to live hitters for the first time today as well back in Sarasota. Hall keeps progressing toward getting into a spring game after being slow played earlier in camp. He dealt with some lower back discomfort before spring training began but all is fine now. Soon he will get into game action.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Terrin Vavra was supposed to play left field and lead off today against the Phillies. However, he's been scratched from the lineup and replaced by Colton Cowser.

Third baseman Gunnar Henderson is leading off. Cowser is batting eighth.

No reason provided at this time.

Orioles reliever Nick Vespi had his fifth bullpen session yesterday morning, using all of his pitches and totaling 35. He advances next week to one or two live bullpen sessions and should be ready to start appearing in games.

Vespi, who underwent hernia surgery on Jan. 5, remains confident that he’ll be ready for Opening Day if he makes the club.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Orioles manager Brandon Hyde hopes to get two innings from left-hander Drew Rom in today’s exhibition opener against the Twins at Ed Smith Stadium.

The lineup is stacked with left-handed hitters, including Ryan O’Hearn at first base and Nomar Mazara in left field.

Cedric Mullins is leading off and Anthony Santander is the cleanup hitter, their starts coming early as they prepare for the World Baseball Classic.

Coby Mayo gets the start at third base. Anthony Bemboom is catching.

For the Orioles
Cedric Mullins CF
Adam Frazier 2B
Adley Rutschman DH
Anthony Santander RF
Ryan O’Hearn 1B
Nomar Mazara LF
Joey Ortiz SS
Coby Mayo 3B
Anthony Bemboom C