In the first inning of his major league career, 58 years ago at Fenway Park in Boston, Jim Palmer struck out Tony Conigliaro on a high fastball. On Thursday, from the Baltimore Orioles’ broadcast booth, Palmer looked down at the same mound and saw a pitcher get a third strike without even throwing a pitch.
In the eighth inning on opening day, the Orioles’ Bryan Baker fanned the Red Sox’ Rafael Devers for the first strikeout in baseball history to end on a pitch-clock violation. Baker had come set with a 1-2 count, but Devers was not looking at him when the pitch clock — new for 2023 — reached the eight-second mark.