Zach Eflin was dominant in his final spring tuneup this afternoon against Pittsburgh in Bradenton for the Baltimore Orioles. Then again, so was every other Oriole pitcher. The story that matters is that the Birds’ de facto staff ace looked about as solid as one could look in a tuneup. But is that the real story of today’s game? No-no! Eflin’s line: 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K.
What I found interesting is that Eflin only pitched three innings. And they were three quick and dominant innings at that. It isn’t as if Eflin reached his pitch limit.
It used to be that teams wanted their starters to pitch deeper in their final spring start. Now it seems teams are doing things almost like the NFL – where a starting pitcher pitches less in the final game. No reason to risk injury.
The first part of this game was all pitching. To be clear, the pitching across the entire game was pretty decent on both sides. But one team shined above the other all game long.
After Ramon Laureano was hit by a pitch to begin the seventh, the Orioles pinch-ran Enrique Bradfield Jr…who promptly stole second and third bases. Bradfield is fast. His speed got him to third base, this while Jackson Holiday walked himself. Bradfield would score on an RBI-single by Dylan Carlson. Livan Soto would add an RBI-single of his own later in the inning, and Vimael Machin would tack on an additional run while hitting into a double-play.
None of those runs scores if not for Bradfield’s speed. That wins you games. He also timed his steal attempts properly. Don’t underestimate that skill in regular season games.
The Birds would add an insurance run in the ninth on a sac fly-RBI by Griff O’Ferrall. However the real action came in the last of the ninth. You see, the Orioles hadn’t allowed a hit over the course of the ballgame. Granted six guys had pitched and more importantly it was a spring training game, but it was something.
Riley Cooper pitched the ninth for the Orioles, and sent Pittsburgh down 1-2-3. To be clear, a spring no-hitter means as much as a run-of-the-mill spring training victory. All it really means is that the entire pitching staff was really dialed in today. But it’s something.
The last time the franchise completed this feat in spring was 1951 – when they were the St. Louis Browns. In this case, seven pitchers combined to share the no-hitter – including Zach Eflin. Come next week, nobody will even care about it.
The Orioles conclude their Florida slate of games tomorrow against Atlanta at CoolToday Park. Charlie Morton gets the start for the Birds, and he’ll be opposed by Atlanta’s Spencer Strider. Game time is set for just after 1 PM.
Birdland Crush 