Some games are decided almost from when the umpire says, “Play ball!” The Orioles played one of them on Friday night. Starting pitcher Bruce Zimmermann got bombed in the early innings, the Orioles offense didn’t collect a hit until the sixth, and they got nothing going until the eighth inning. Neither Adley Rutschman’s t-shirt giveaway night nor the Friday fireworks provided any positive karmic boost. Their late rally was too little, too late, and so they lost, 6-3, to the Guardians to open this three-game set.
Zimmermann needed a good start to regain some positive momentum after his last couple of outings in Boston and New York, in which he allowed an unsightly nine home runs across the two games.