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This was the moment.
Everything that happened in the offseason — a new lease, a new owner, a new closer and a new ace — was officially in the past.
They honored all of it accordingly in pregame. David Rubenstein, whose group officially became the controlling owners of the team on Wednesday, was introduced in a press conference. Corbin Burnes, acquired from the Brewers to be the new front man of the rotation, received a thunderous reception when he was introduced. So did Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson, the stars of last year’s American League East championship team.
But then the clock struck 3:05 p.m. It was time to play baseball, to put all of it to the test and begin a season with the highest of aspirations.
They fell short last year. But that result — when the Orioles won 101 games but were swept in the American League Division Series — is no longer the last thing in the record book. Thursday’s resounding 11-3 win over the Angels on opening day was the start of the long journey in trying to ensure that doesn’t happen again.
“We have a pretty good team right here, and our expectation is always to beat everyone,” Anthony Santander said. “That’s our goal. That’s our mindset.”
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They spent years building to be in the spot where they could acquire a No. 1 starter like Burnes. They traded DL Hall and Joey Ortiz, two of their beloved top prospects, to turn the focus to winning now instead of building for the future.
Burnes proved, in at least his first start, that he was worthy of the decision. He gave up a home run in the top of the first inning to Mike Trout but didn’t allow another baserunner in his Orioles debut. Armed with an additional curveball — a new weapon against left-handed hitters that has more speed and bite than his traditional 12-6 one — he struck out 11 in six innings.
He had all five of his pitches working, he said. He got quick outs and ended his day after only 82 pitches, as he’s not completely stretched out.
“We kind of did everything well, kind of one of those days where everything lines up,” Burnes said. “That’s a pretty fun day because you can kind of go about different sequences and kind of do some things that you don’t normally do when you don’t have everything working.”
He’s the first pitcher to have at least 10 strikeouts while allowing one or zero hits on opening day since 1934.
“It just goes to show, like, we’re as good as anybody,” Ryan O’Hearn said. “Our ace is as good as anybody’s ace. It’s very cool. He was nasty today.”
The Orioles’ offense, a pillar of their 2023 success, quickly picked things back up. Henderson led the bottom of the first off with a walk, and Rutschman had the first Orioles hit of the season. They led 2-0 by the end of the first thanks to RBIs from Santander and Jordan Westburg, who was the designated hitter for just the second time in his career.
By the second, they had the game locked down, driving out Angels starter Patrick Sandoval after 1 2/3 innings. The Orioles added three runs that inning, two via a single from Rutschman and another on a Santander sacrifice fly.
The offense, though, was nowhere near done. There would be a two-run home run from Santander in the fourth and a three-run shot to dead center from Cedric Mullins in the seventh. Ryan Mountcastle also had an RBI, hitting a sacrifice fly to send Jorge Mateo home. Every Orioles hitter reached base via hit or walk.
This was just the first of 162 moments. But this could be the start of a season to remember in Baltimore.
“I don’t want to read too much into into it,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “It was a fun atmosphere; we’re 1-0. It was a great way to start the year, but we have 161 more of these to go.”
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Danielle Allentuck covers the Orioles for The Baltimore Banner. She previously reported on the Rockies for the Denver Gazette and general sports assignments for The New York Times as part of its fellowship program. A Maryland native, Danielle grew up in Montgomery County and graduated from Ithaca College.
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