Mike Baumann’s world of baseball firsts spun again Saturday evening. It dumped him on the mound when he assumed that he’d watch the last three outs from the bullpen.
The phone wasn’t supposed to ring. He wasn’t supposed to pitch.
Cionel Pérez faced two batters, gave up a triple and single, and exited with soreness in his right oblique. The Orioles led 13-2. The only drama should have been whether the time of game would stay under three hours.
Baumann was allowed to take as long as necessary to warm up. He motioned that he was ready, threw a wild pitch and surrendered hits to three of the next four batters.
A scoring change removed an error on Baumann for a missed catch and attached it to first baseman Ryan Mountcastle on Nolan Schanuel’s infield single.