Thursday’s home opener, a 7-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox plagued by bad defense and myriad bullpen shenanigans, was disappointing. Starter Matt Harvey tried and failed to get through six innings. His replacement, lefty Paul Fry, allowed a walk, groundout, and a single that scored two runs. Shawn Armstrong gave up two more and failed to get out of the seventh. Rookie Tyler Wells got taken deep by Kike Hernández in the eighth.
Coming into the 2021 season, the Orioles were expected to be bad. Bad in several ways, but one more so than others: starting pitching.