Corbin Burnes brilliant in Orioles debut, strikes out 11 in rout of Angels

BALTIMORE — Corbin Burnes’ debut in Baltimore was everything his new team could have wanted.

The Orioles’ new ace was excellent — and their offense showed why they’re the reigning AL East champions.

“One bad pitch through six innings. Just awesome, awesome performance,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “That’s not easy to do. New team, opening day, a lot of jitters, probably pretty anxious, and go out and do what he just did is really impressive.”

Burnes allowed one baserunner in a dominant six innings, and Anthony Santander and Cedric Mullins both homered as the Orioles began their division defense with an 11-3 rout of the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday.

Mike Trout hit a first-inning home run off Burnes, but the Angels managed nary a peep against the new Baltimore ace after that. Burnes (1-0) struck out 11 in his first start after the Orioles acquired him from Milwaukee in an offseason trade.

“It’s kind of one of those days where everything lines up, that you kind of got everything working. It becomes a really fun day,” Burnes said. “You can kind of do some things that you don’t normally do when you don’t have everything working.”

Burnes joined Bob Gibson in 1967 as the only pitchers with at least 11 strikeouts, no walks, and one or fewer runs allowed on opening day.

“He did exactly what a real good pitcher does,” said the Angels’ Ron Washington, back managing a big league team for the first time in a decade. “You give him a lead, they know how to take it to the finish line.”

Baltimore’s Adley Rutschman, who had five hits and a walk on opening day last year in Boston, started this season off with hits in the first and second innings, then later drew a walk. He scored three runs and Santander drove in four.

Santander hit a two-run homer in the fourth and Mullins added a three-run shot in the seventh for the Orioles, who brought back a young core that won 101 games last year. They figure to add another top prospect soon whenever infielder Jackson Holliday comes up from the minors.

Baltimore also began a new era when David Rubenstein bought control Wednesday from the Angelos family that had owned the team since 1993.

For the Angels, the future isn’t nearly as rosy after the departure of two-way star Shohei Ohtani in the offseason. Trout still can be an MVP-caliber player if healthy, but Los Angeles wasn’t competitive in this one. Patrick Sandoval (0-1) got only five outs while making the start on opening day — a role filled by Ohtani the past two years. Sandoval allowed three earned runs and six hits.

Baltimore scored twice in the first. Then Rutschman hit a two-run single in the second and scored on Santander’s sacrifice fly to make it 5-1.

“The quality of the at-bats that we were taking early in the game was unbelievable for me,” Hyde said. “Just the way we were laying off close pitches. Sandoval’s not easy to hit.”

TRAINERS ROOM

Angels: Los Angeles put RHP Sam Bachman (right shoulder inflammation) on the 60-day injured list, INF Michael Stefanic (left quad strain) on the 10-day IL and RHP Robert Stephenson (right shoulder inflammation) on the 15-day IL. The Angels selected the contract of INF Miguel Sanó.

Orioles: RHP Kyle Bradish (right UCL sprain) and LHP John Means (left forearm strain) started the season on the 15-day IL. Baltimore also put RHP Jacob Webb on the paternity list, recalled LHP Nick Vespi from Triple-A Norfolk and designated OF Ryan McKenna and UT Tyler Nevin for assignment.

UP NEXT

The teams resume this three-game series Saturday. Baltimore’s Grayson Rodriguez starts against Griffin Canning.

More from Sportsnet

Toronto Blue Jays begin 2024 trek informed by past failures and future uncertainties

MLB Preview Roundtable: 2024 sleepers, awards and predictions