Andrew Cashner couldn't have been much better or done much more in his five-inning assignment in the Orioles' 14-1 road Grapefruit League win over the split-squad Detroit Tigers on Monday, mainly because it's March and he's building up for a long season.
The symmetry, however, was too clear to ignore.
On a day when manager Brandon Hyde spoke pregame about how in-game decisions regarding whether starting pitchers would get to face a batting order a third time when they're statistically shown to be more vulnerable, Cashner dazzled and got better as he went along while turning over the Tigers' lineup exactly twice, only to be lifted because he got up to the prescribed 75-pitch mark and the Orioles had four other pitchers scheduled to work the four remaining innings.