Oriole starter Spenser Watkins, the 28-year-old rookie making his first major league start, was one of the central plotlines tonight. Against the high-octane Blue Jays offense — who entered play on Tuesday ranked first in the American League in home runs (124), second in OPS (.781), and third in runs scored (423) — Watkins pitched five innings of one-run ball. And despite a bit of a rocky start, the O’s right-hander settled in just fine as the game went on.
As the saying in baseball goes, nothing good happens after a leadoff walk. Well, that proved true in the top of the first.