O's game blog: O's look for 2-0 start, series win against Angels

The Orioles (1-0) host the Los Angeles Angels (0-1) today at Oriole Park, looking for their first 2-0 start since they began the 2021 season going 3-0. That year they swept three in a row at Boston to begin the season. 

The Orioles took a 5-1 lead in the second inning on Thursday and led 7-1 after the fourth on their way to an 11-3 win in the season opener. A sellout crowd of 45,029 cheered on the Birds in downtown Baltimore.

The Orioles improved to 46-25 all-time in season openers and have won 11 of the last 14. They are 33-13 when opening the season in Baltimore.

The win Thursday was their first season-opening game at home since 2018 as the Orioles began their 71^st season in Baltimore.

The Angels, who have lost on Opening Day 10 times in the last 11 years, began their 64^th season in MLB. The Angels are now 31-33 in opening games.

The Orioles scored 10 runs or more in an opener for the eighth time. The 11 runs is their second-most ever in an opener behind a 13-5 win over Kansas City in 1982.

Winning pitcher Corbin Burnes fanned 11 without issuing a walk over six innings. He gave up a first-inning homer to Mike Trout and then retired 16 straight batters through the sixth before he gave the game over to the bullpen.

Anthony Santander hit a two-run homer and drove in four runs in the win. He also homered on Opening Day in 2022. Cedric Mullins’ three-run homer in the seventh was his first career Opening Day home run.

Thursday's game marked the beginning of a six-game, season-opening homestand for the Birds. The O's went 49-32 (.605) at Oriole Park in 2023, the third-best record in ballpark history, which dates to 1992, behind the 2014 and 2016 teams who went 50-31 (.617). Baltimore had the third-best home record in the AL last season behind Tampa Bay at 53-28 (.654) and Texas at 50-31 (.617), and tied for the fifth-best in MLB.

As for the Angels, their two hits was their fewest ever in an opener and the eight-run loss margin was the second-worst ever behind a nine-run loss to the Cubs in their 2016 opener.

Today the Orioles send right-hander Grayson Rodriguez (7-4, 4.35 ERA in 2023) to the mound for his season debut. In his last 13 starts of last season, he was 5-2 with a 2.58 ERA. In his last six regular-season starts, he was 4-1 with a 1.80 ERA.

Rodriguez allowed five runs in 1 2/3 innings in Game 2 of the AL Division Series versus Texas.

In two career starts versus the Angels he is 1-1 with a 9.64 ERA, giving up 10 earned runs over 9 1/3 innings.

Right-hander Griffin Canning (7-8, 4.32 ERA in 2023) will take the ball for the visitors. Over 24 games last season he pitched 127 innings with a 1.236 WHIP, a 2.6 walk rate and 9.9 strikeout rate. The Angels went 10-12 in his starts last season.

Canning has reverse splits, meaning right-handed batters hit him better than lefties. Versus lefty hitters last season he gave up a .217 batting average and .632 OPS. In his career he yields an OPS of .692 to lefty batters. Last season, right-handers hit .271 off him with an OPS of .826. And for his career, right-handers have an OPS of .821 versus Canning.

In four career games against the Orioles he is 0-3 with an 11.05 ERA and has allowed seven homers in 14 2/3 innings.