Grayson Rodriguez solid, Orioles hit 3 homers amid snow flurries to spoil Pirates' home opener, 5-2
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Ryan O’Hearn, Gunnar Henderson and Cedric Mullins homered, Grayson Rodriguez pitched 6 1/3 strong innings and the Baltimore Orioles beat Pittsburgh 5-2 on Friday to spoil a Pirates home opener that was played through occasional snow flurries.
Rodriguez (2-0) gave up solo homers to Oneil Cruz and Jared Triolo among six hits. The second-year right-hander struck out seven and walked two in a matchup with fellow 22-year-old Jared Jones.
“He’s still developing at the big-league level, and he’s got big-time starter stuff,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said of Rodriguez. “The command is so much better than it was in the first half of last season. There are still some wasted pitches but when you’re throwing 95, 97, 98 and are around the plate and have a good breaking ball it makes a difference.”
Jones (1-1) allowed two runs on six hits in six innings with seven strikeouts and two walks in his second career start. He struck out 10 in 5 2/3 innings against Miami last Saturday.
Jones has induced 43 swings and misses, the most in a pitcher’s first two starts since Major League Baseball started tracking pitches in 2008.
While the game was never delayed, snow, sleet and rain fell intermittently at chilly PNC Park. The temperature was 40 degrees Fahrenheit at first pitch.
“I’m from Texas and I don’t see snow too often,” Rodriguez said with a smile, “but it was a lot of fun to experience that.”
Jones, a California native, also tried to make the most of the bad weather.
“It wasn’t too bad,” Jones said. “Adrenaline kicked in and that’s what kind of helped me out a little bit. But it was more interesting than anything.”
Baltimore improved to 5-2. Pittsburgh has lost two of three after a 5-0 start.
O’Hearn connected in the second and Henderson homered an inning later. Consecutive RBI singles by Adley Rutschman and Anthony Santander in the seventh inning pushed the lead to 4-1, and Mullins homered in the eighth.
“Luckily, it didn’t snow during any of my at-bats,” Henderson said. “It was definitely cold but all you could do was just bear with it.”
Craig Kimbrel, signed to a one-year, $13 million contract in the offseason, pitched a perfect ninth for his first save with the Orioles and 418th of his career.
“That was dominant,” Hyde said.
Henderson, Rutschman and Santander — the top three hitters in the Orioles’ lineup — had two hits each as well as O’Hearn. Baltimore had 12 hits.
Cruz finished with three of the Pirates’ six hits. Third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes had two hits after receiving his 2023 NL Gold Glove in a pregame ceremony.
Former Pirates manager Jim Leyland threw the ceremonial first pitch. He will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in July.
ON THE FARM
Paul Skenes had six strikeouts in three shutout innings for the Pirates’ Triple-A Indianapolis team Friday night against Memphis at 100.7 mph, 100.5 mph, 100.4 mph, 100.2 mph, 100.0 mph and 99.7 mph, according to Statcast. The 21-year-old right-hander was the top pick in last year’s amateur draft.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Orioles: LF Austin Hays (illness) did not start but pinch-hit in the seventh inning and stayed in the game.
UP NEXT
Orioles RHP Tyler Wells (0-1, 4.50) faces LHP Bailey Falter (0-0, 13.50) as the series continues Saturday. Wells pitched seven scoreless innings last May 13 to win his only career start against the Pirates.
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