Cole Irvin delivered his best start in an Orioles uniform as the Orioles clinched another series against the Royals.
Cole Irvin only made three starts in 2023 before the Orioles booted him to Triple-A. Irvin returned to the rotation this season with a pair of starters sidelined, but he failed to impress during his first three appearances.
Irvin took the ball today under a certain amount of scrutiny. Both John Means and Kyle Bradish have started minor-league rehab appearances, and prospect Cade Povich has absolutely dominated early at Norfolk. With the pressure turned up, Irvin rose to the occasion.
The lefty delivered 6.2 innings of shutout ball, and the Orioles secured the rubber match with a 5-0 victory.
The Birds grabbed an early lead with a pair of big flies in the third inning. Colton Cowser got the party started with a 430-foot blast into the fountain in right-center. The splash invited everyone to reference Cowser “yeeting” Craig Kimbrel’s milestone ball into the fountain last night.
Jordan Westburg followed with a ball that stayed dry but traveled three feet farther. Westburg’s blast doubled Baltimore’s lead and provided Irvin an early cushion.
Colton Cowser and Jordan Westburg go back-to-back in KC! pic.twitter.com/CMLtSYuTdz
— MLB (@MLB) April 21, 2024
Irvin limited Kansas City to four hits. He wisely pitched around a red-hot Salvador Pérez on two occasions but never suffered the consequences. Irvin notched an inning-ending strikeout of MJ Melendez with Pérez and Bobby Witt Jr. on the corners in the first.
Baltimore hit Royals starter Seth Lugo hard for 5.1 innings. Lugo had not allowed a home run this season before Cowser and Westburg got to him in the third. Henderson nearly made it three home runs in the inning but the ball bounced off the railing above the right-field wall. The hard-hit double marked the second time this weekend that the Orioles were robbed by a randomly raised boundary at Kauffman stadium.
With Irvin cruising, the O’s doubled the lead in the sixth inning. Ryan O’Hearn lined out to the warning track, but Anthony Santander followed with a stand-up triple. Ryan Mountcastle plated Santander with a double to left, and Mountcastle eventually scored on a bases-loaded walk by Westburg.
Gunnar Henderson appeared to work another RBI walk, but home-plate umpire Sean Barber punched out Henderson on a clearly low pitch. The missed call ended the inning with the Orioles leading by four instead of five.
The Birds did not need the extra run today, but they managed to secure one more for good measure. Henderson avoided a double play by running hard on a fielder’s choice in the ninth. He advanced on a single by Rutschman and scored on a pinch-hit knock by Ramón Urías. Urías recorded a hit in all three games this weekend.
Jacob Webb relieved Irvin and recorded the final out of the seventh. Webb walked Maikel Garcia to start the eighth before retiring Witt. Danny Coulombe entered an allowed a one-out single to place runners on the corners for Pérez.
Coulombe buckled down when faced with Baltimore’s biggest test on the mound. He struck out Pérez with a high fastball and sent pinch-hitter Nelson Velázques down swinging to end the threat. Dillon Tate secured the shutout by working around a two-out walk in an otherwise clean ninth inning.
The victory marked the second series win against Kansas City this month. Baltimore moved to 14-7 on the young season. The Birds will now travel to Los Angeles for a three-game series against the Angels. Albert Suárez will take the ball Monday night after an impressive debut last week.