Brandon Hyde stated he doesn’t have phrases of knowledge for younger gamers making their main league debuts.
Instead, the Orioles supervisor needs to be “relaxed,” hoping that vitality rubs off on the participant attaining a lifelong aim.
Either that technique labored Monday, or Jordan Westburg, who brings a constant and even-keeled popularity to Baltimore alongside together with his expertise as a high 100 prospect, didn’t have to be calmed down, because the 24-year-old seemed a lot relaxed in his debut Monday.
Westburg did a bit little bit of all the things to assist lead the Orioles to a 10-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds in a recreation twice delayed due to rain.
“Just soak it in,” Westburg stated about his strategy. “Tried to really block out as many emotions as I could and just try to lock in and focus on the game. But at the same time, I just wanted to kind of look around, take in the atmosphere, the environment, the people. This is something I’ve never been a part of before, so it’s just really special.”
After a loud ovation and a “Westy” chant, he walked in his first plate look to spark a two-out rally. He drove in his first run on a groundout in his second at-bat. In his third, he recorded his first MLB hit — a bloop single to left area. On the bases, he was caught stealing, and within the area, he made the defensive play of the sport with a slick glove flip at second base.
“I thought he played a nice game,” Hyde stated. “It’s a young player in his debut, so you’re hoping he just feels as comfortable as possible. There’s a lot of people watching him, and I just wanted him to relax and play, and I thought he did that.”
The ball from his first hit and the lineup card had been in his locker after the sport, and he has easy plans for these prestigious mementos.
“Frame them and not touch them for a very long, long time,” Westburg stated with a smile.
He additionally loved a postgame interview on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network’s tv broadcast, an embrace together with his household and a celebration within the clubhouse.
“It was really cool,” Westburg stated concerning the locker room festivities. “Just everybody seems to have open arms and really kind of accepting me in the clubhouse today just made this day a lot easier.”
The Orioles put up crooked numbers within the second, third, fifth and seventh innings behind a lineup that had 12 hits and 9 walks. All 9 batters reached base, with Austin Hays, Adley Rutschman, Anthony Santander and Ramón Urías tallying two hits apiece. Hays, Rutschman, Urías, Westburg and Cedric Mullins all recorded at the very least one RBI.
Left-handers Cole Irvin and Bruce Zimmermann — the previous pitching between the 2 rain delays that totaled 1 hour, 59 minutes, the latter after — mixed for a top quality begin, permitting three runs on seven hits and no walks throughout six innings (three apiece).
Relievers Bryan Baker, Mike Baumann and Cionel Pérez every delivered a shutout inning to slam the door, ending the sport at midnight — almost 5 hours after the initially scheduled first pitch.
The win over the National League Central-leading and Elly De La Cruz-powered Reds (41-38) is the Orioles’ third straight. With a 48-29 report, Baltimore is nineteen video games over .500 for the primary time since 2014. The Orioles personal the second-best report within the American League and are 4 video games behind the AL East-leading Tampa Bay Rays.
After rain delayed the sport’s begin by quarter-hour, the rain started to fall once more proper when Westburg stepped to the plate for his first MLB plate look, with a cadre of household and associates behind residence plate beginning the “Westy” chant, main the remainder of the group at Camden Yards to affix in. His mother and father, Christine and Paul Westburg, and his spouse, Anna Claire Westburg, had been in attendance, along with some associates in Westburg T-shirts.
“It hit me pretty close to my heart, hearing a lot of people chant my name,” he stated. “That was pretty cool.”
Westburg’s debut is the third for an Orioles prospect this season, with right-hander Grayson Rodriguez and infielder Joey Ortiz the primary two. However, Rodriguez and Ortiz each performed their first video games on the street — Rodriguez in Texas versus the Rangers and Ortiz in Detroit towards the Tigers. Many of the membership’s followers have yearned for large league promotions from the group’s No. 1-ranked farm system, and so they launched that pleasure Monday.
“That was special,” Westburg stated of the fan response. “Playing in a city I’ve never played in before and having the support of everybody that was here, especially on my first game and trying to get rid of the nerves and slow the game down, just to have that support was really special.”
He received down 0-2 within the depend towards left-hander Brandon Williamson, who had retired 5 of the primary six batters, however then labored a seven-pitch stroll, resulting in extra cheers from the group.
“Felt like something out of a movie or something that you dream, honestly,” Westburg stated of his first plate look. “Huge raindrops falling just trying to focus on picking up the baseball. It was kind of crazy.”
His stroll — mixed with Williamson’s wildness brought about at the very least partly by the moist circumstances — ignited a two-out rally, as Ryan McKenna and Jorge Mateo additionally drew free passes and Hays drove in two to provide the Orioles a 2-1 lead and Westburg his first profession run.
“His first at-bat, that was kind of a crazy one,” Hays stated. “That takes an incredible quantity of endurance, particularly with the rain coming down.
“He played a great game tonight. A lot of firsts for him. He got his first run scored, first [RBI], first hit. Yeah, we’re really excited for him. He did a great job tonight.”
After the second rain delay ended following 1 hour, 44 minutes, Westburg achieved one other first in his second plate look by knocking in his first run. With the bases loaded, Westburg hit a possible floor ball double play to De La Cruz at third base, however he hustled down the primary final analysis to beat out the throw from second, scoring Santander, who remained scorching after his current energy surge, and Urías on a throwing error to place the Orioles up 4-1.
Two innings later, he flashed the leather-based at second base, ranging up the center on a grounder, backhanding the ball and deftly flicking it over the bag for Mateo, who spun and fired barely late to first, almost turning a miraculous double play.
While his first two occasions up resulted in firsts, he checked off the most important field in his third. Despite swinging at a pitch just a few inches inside, Westburg was capable of fist the 3-2 slider from Eduardo Salazar in between Cincinnati’s shortstop and left fielder for his first MLB hit, a cool 64.9 mph single.
“A relief,” Westburg stated of his first knock. “Wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. Any hit, I’m going to take, and to knock the first one off in the first game is pretty cool.”
The Orioles scored three runs that inning — the primary on a double by Urías, the second on a sacrifice fly by Mullins and the third on a wild pitch. They pushed three extra throughout within the seventh on a double from Hays, who went 2-for-5 to spice up his AL-best batting common to .319, and a two-run single from Rutschman.
Irvin allowed a run within the first on a two-out single from Spencer Steer, however he retired the following seven batters earlier than the rain delay ended his night time. Zimmermann (1-0), a Baltimore-area native, adopted with two scoreless innings earlier than surrendering a two-run homer to Steer within the sixth.
Westburg grounded out in his first two at-bats, ending his night time 1-for-4 with all of the firsts.
Monday was about three years and two weeks to the day Westburg turned an Oriole when Baltimore drafted him No. 30 total within the 2020 draft. Westburg, ranked because the membership’s fourth-best prospect and No. 41 within the sport by Baseball America, methodically progressed by way of the minors with constant success, but it surely took him 158 Triple-A video games — greater than twice as many as Gunnar Henderson and almost thrice as Rutschman — to succeed in his remaining vacation spot.
However, he stated the longer journey didn’t hamper his enjoyment of his debut. Did his first day as an enormous leaguer meet his expectations?
“Surpassed ‘em,” Westburg stated.
Around the horn
- Hyde offered updates on a number of of the Orioles’ gamers on the injured listing. Catcher James McCann (left ankle sprain, 15-day IL) has began taking part in baseball actions, together with taking batting apply on the sphere earlier than Monday’s recreation. Pitchers John Means (Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgical procedure restoration, 60-day IL) and Austin Voth (left elbow discomfort, 15-day IL) each performed catch Monday, Voth for the primary time since touchdown on the shelf June 14. Relievers Mychal Givens (proper shoulder irritation, 15-day IL) and Dillon Tate (proper forearm pressure, 60-day IL) are within the means of getting “further testing,” Hyde stated, again in Baltimore, with the aim for Givens to play catch later this week after which restart his minor league rehabilitation project in Triple-A Norfolk.
- The Orioles on Monday afternoon signed catcher Meibrys Viloria to a minor league contract. He will report back to Sarasota to work out and start his recreation development, the group stated. Viloria, 26, debuted in 2018 with Kansas City, enjoying elements of three seasons with the Royals. He made transient appearances within the huge leagues in 2021 with the Rangers and in 2022 with the Cleveland Guardians. He’s a profession .198 hitter throughout 280 plate appearances.
Reds at Orioles
Tuesday, 7:05 p.m.
TV: MASN
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
Reds at Orioles
Wednesday, 7:05 p.m.
TV: MASN
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
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Source: www.bostonherald.com