BALTIMORE — Corbin Burnes' debut in Baltimore was everything his new team hoped for.
The Orioles' new ace was great – and their offense showed why they are the reigning AL East champions.
“One bad throw until the sixth inning. Just a great, great performance,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “It's not easy. New team, opening day, a lot of anxiety, and probably a lot of anxiety, so to go out there and do what I did is really impressive.”
On Thursday, as the Orioles opened their division defense with an 11-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels, Barnes allowed a runner on first base in a dominant sixth inning, and Anthony Santander and Cedric Mullins hit home runs.
Mike Trout hit a home run off Barnes in the first inning, but the Angels had little chance against Baltimore's new ace after that. Barnes (1-0) had 11 strikeouts in his first start after the Orioles acquired him from Milwaukee in an offseason trade.
“It's like a day where everything goes well and everything goes well. It's a really fun day,” Burns said. “You can do things you wouldn't normally do when everything is going wrong.”
Burns joined Bob Gibson in 1967 as the only pitchers to have at least 11 strikeouts, no walks, and one run allowed on Opening Day.
“He did exactly what a really good pitcher would do,” said Ron Washington of the Angels, who returned to manage a major league team for the first time in 10 years. “If you give him a lead, they know how to get to the finish line.”
Baltimore's Adley Rutschman, who had five hits and one walk in Boston's opener last year, started this season with hits in the first and second innings, then drew a walk. He scored three goals and Santander scored four.
Santander hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning, and Mullins added three runs in the seventh inning, bringing back the Orioles' young core that won 101 games last year. They figure to quickly add another top prospect whenever infielder Jackson Holiday comes out of the minors.
Baltimore also began a new era Wednesday when David Rubenstein bought control from the Angelos family, which had owned the team since 1993.
The future is not so rosy for the Angels after the offseason departure of two-way star Shohei Ohtani. Trout can still be an MVP-caliber player when healthy, but Los Angeles wasn't competitive in this game. Patrick Sandoval (0-1) started on Opening Day and had just five outs, but Ohtani has filled that role the past two years. Sandoval allowed three earned runs and six hits.
Baltimore scored two runs in the first inning. Rutschmann then hit a two-run homer in the second inning, scoring on Santander's sacrifice fly to make it 5-1.
“The quality of the at-bats early in the game was unbelievable to me,” Hyde said. “That's exactly how we ended a close game. It's not easy to beat Sandoval.”
