Baltimore Orioles News: O's Young Star, Ace Make History on Opening Day

The world is an unpredictable place. One day the owner of a Major League Baseball team dies and that team is sold to a new majority owner, a few days later a bridge collapses, and then a couple of days after that, baseball season begins.

For the Baltimore Orioles, all three things happened, but baseball works in magical ways and Adley Rutschman decided to give the hometown fans something to cheer about by making Opening Day history. He became the first player to reach base safely in each of his first eight or more plate appearances on Opening Day since Joe Lahoud did it from 1968-72.

Rutschman finished the day 2-for-4 with three runs scored, two runs batted in, and one walk.

After winning 101 games and winning the American League East division last season, the Orioles picked up where they left off, beating the Los Angeles Angels 11-3 in front of a sold-out Camden Yards crowd of 45,029.

Corbin Burnes got the nod for his first start as a member of the Orioles after being acquired in a blockbuster trade with the Milwaukee Brewers in February. Burnes carved up the Angels by striking out 11 while allowing just one run on one hit in six innings. He retired 18 of the 19 Los Angeles batters he faced. The only blemish was a two-out solo homer by Mike Trout in the first inning.

In his Baltimore debut, Burnes also made franchise history for most strikeouts by a pitcher in his Orioles debut. The only other pitcher to record more strikeouts in an Opening Day start since 1954 is Dave McNally who had 13 in 1970. Burnes' 11 ties Mike Mussina's 1998 Opening Day performance.

Burnes also became the first pitcher with 10-plus strikeouts and fewer than two hits allowed in his team's first game of the season since the Chicago Cubs' Lon Warneke on April 17, 1934.

Statcast broke down Burnes' 10 swinging strikeouts and determined that six were on curveballs, two on cutters and two on sliders. He recorded at least two strikeouts in five of the six innings.

Opening Day was also celebrated by the Orioles' new majority owner David Rubenstein, who had an introductory event before the game.

"Today is an easy day to say everything is great," he said. "I don't want this to be the high-water mark. I want the high-water mark to be in the fall when we go to the World Series."

Rubenstein, a Baltimore native who grew up an Orioles fan, took part in pregames festivities wearing a No. 24 jersey in honor of the 2024 season. His large ownership group includes Hall of Famer and Baltimore legend Cal Ripken Jr., who caught the ceremonial first pitch.

"It feels really good to be back in a formal capacity," Ripken said. "... Many times in life, it's a matter of timing, and the timing feels really good right now to come back."