Current:Home > My'He's going to do great here': New Orioles ace Corbin Burnes dominates Angels on Opening Day-LoTradeCoin
'He's going to do great here': New Orioles ace Corbin Burnes dominates Angels on Opening Day
View Date:2024-12-23 19:41:16
BALTIMORE – The playoff favorite was laying waste to the expected also-ran, and the Opening Day crowd at Camden Yards was lulled into a pleasant little nap when Corbin Burnes spun a particularly nasty curveball for his 82nd and final pitch Thursday.
Anthony Rendon froze, helpless to avoid his fate as Burnes’ 11th strikeout, and as the right-hander walked off the mound, the crowd of 45,029 stirred.
Slowly, they rose to their feet, a far from thunderous roar given that the Baltimore Orioles held a six-run lead over the Los Angeles Angels, but an acknowledgement that what they’d seen was significant.
Burnes is an Oriole, and in his first outing in the American League, served notice that a 101-win team might indeed be the pennant favorite with his considerable talents in tow.
He gave up a first-inning home run to the generational Mike Trout, and then did not permit another Angel to reach base the rest of the day, using a devastating four-pitch mix to push the Orioles to an 11-3 victory in their 2024 opener.
MLB SALARIES: Baseball's top 25 highest-paid players in 2024
Sure, he’s new to the AL, but Burnes was no secret: The 2021 National League Cy Young Award winner had struck out at least 200 batters the past three seasons, including an NL-best 243 in 2022. His January acquisition from the Milwaukee Brewers gave the Orioles what they lacked: A true ace, one who could set the tone in Game 1 of the season or Game 1 of a far more significant series, months later.
Consider the former assignment completed to near perfection.
“Couldn’t have asked for anything more than that,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “Maybe one bad pitch through six innings. Just an awesome, awesome performance.
“That’s not easy to do – a new team, Opening Day, a lot of jitters, probably pretty anxious. To go out and do what he did, that’s really impressive.”
MLB Opening Day 2024:Yankees rally vs. Astros, full schedule, highlights
It was Burnes’ first win in three career Opening Day assignments, and he joined Bob Gibson as the only pitchers to strike out 11 with no walks and one or fewer runs allowed in an opener.
To call it Gibson-esque might be a stretch. Yet Burnes’ finest weapon, a cutter that touches 96 mph on the radar gun, was on full display.
After Trout golfed a homer off his slider in the first inning, Burnes fired three straight cutters at Trout in the fourth inning. The three-time MVP looked at the first two and flailed at the third.
The next batter, Taylor Ward, ran the count full before flailing at a curveball, epitomizing the pick-your-poison quandary for a hitter facing Burnes.
They swung eight times at Burnes’ curve, whiffing six times and looking at seven more called strikes. Fifty-six of his 82 pitches were strikes, and his 11-0 strikeout-walk ratio was no accident: His 6.88 rate for the 2021 season led the major leagues.
“That was a pleasure to play behind. That was unbelievable,” Orioles first baseman Ryan Mountcastle said.
Meanwhile, Anthony Santander hit a two-run homer and Cedric Mullins a three-run shot, while Adley Rutschman enjoyed his second dominant Opening Day in as many outings, scoring three runs and hitting a two-run single.
The potent offense – which was swept out of the AL Division Series by the eventual champion Texas Rangers in October - now has a bona fide ace alongside, a symbiotic relationship just blooming.
“He’s going to do great here,” says Santander.
Burnes saved one of his best deliveries for last when he punched out Rendon, knowing that was likely the capper for his afternoon. As debuts go – in a new league, no less – it couldn’t have gone much better.
“I knew I was at the end there,” he said of the fans rising to their feet. “I knew it was a good start. The fan base was great today – sellout crowd, they were loud. It was a great atmosphere, a fun Opening Day.”
And it looked an awful lot like a prelude to much bigger things.
veryGood! (3966)
Related
- US Diplomats Notch a Win on Climate Super Pollutants With Help From the Private Sector
- Creating a sperm or egg from any cell? Reproduction revolution on the horizon
- Creating a sperm or egg from any cell? Reproduction revolution on the horizon
- Hunter Biden to appear in court in Delaware in July
- 12 college students charged with hate crimes after assault in Maryland
- Elliot Page Grateful to Be Here and Alive After Transition Journey
- Trump’s EPA Starts Process for Replacing Clean Power Plan
- This telehealth program is a lifeline for New Mexico's pregnant moms. Will it end?
- Best fits for Corbin Burnes: 6 teams that could match up with Cy Young winner
- Amory Lovins: Freedom From Fossil Fuels Is a Possible Dream
Ranking
- Mega Millions winning numbers for November 12 drawing: Jackpot rises to $361 million
- Exxon Reports on Climate Risk and Sees Almost None
- Two Farmworkers Come Into Their Own, Escaping Low Pay, Rigid Hours and a High Risk of Covid-19
- Could Exxon’s Climate Risk Disclosure Plan Derail Its Fight to Block State Probes?
- Jeep slashes 2025 Grand Cherokee prices
- Farewell, my kidney: Why the body may reject a lifesaving organ
- Trump’s EPA Starts Process for Replacing Clean Power Plan
- Building Emissions Cuts Crucial to Meeting NYC Climate Goals
Recommendation
-
Beyoncé course coming to Yale University to examine her legacy
-
A new nasal spray to reverse fentanyl and other opioid overdoses gets FDA approval
-
Search for missing Titanic sub includes armada of specialized planes, underwater robots and sonar listening equipment
-
N.C. Church Takes a Defiant Stand—With Solar Panels
-
See Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani's Winning NFL Outing With Kids Zuma and Apollo
-
PGA Tour officials to testify before Senate subcommittee
-
For Exxon, a Year of Living Dangerously
-
Exxon Reports on Climate Risk and Sees Almost None