Orioles set club mark with 6 Opening Day home runs in 12-2 win over Blue Jays

TORONTO—What happened? The Orioles hit six home runs, setting a team Opening Day record in a 12-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays before 40,734 at Rogers Centre on Thursday.

Blue Jays starter Jose Berrios entered the game with a 10-1 record and 2.95 ERA in 16 games against the Orioles, and Toronto had won a franchise best five straight openers.

Catcher Adley Rutschman, who’s now 10-for-14 in three openers, homered with one out in the first.

Rightfielder Tyler O’Neill, a native of British Columbia playing his first Opening Day in Canada, hit a three-run home run in the third, his sixth straight home run in an opener, a major league record.

O’Neill reached base five times. He singled twice and walked twice.

Centerfielder Cedric Mullins added a solo shot in the fourth, giving the Orioles a 6-0 lead, and added a three-run home run in the seventh.

Rutschman, who hit a two-run home run in the eighth, has three home runs and nine RBIs in three openers. Second baseman Jordan Westburg followed with the Orioles’ sixth home run, the first time they hit six in a game since July 9^th, 2023 at Minnesota.

The previous Opening Day record was set in 1982 and 2006 when they hit four home runs.

Mullins and Rutschman were the third and fourth Orioles to homer twice on Opening Day. Sam Horn hit two on April 9^th, 1990, and Brooks Robinson on April 6^th, 1973.

The three home runs allowed by Berrios, who worked five innings and allowed nine hits, equaled a career high.

Oriole starter Zach Eflin, who pitched the first three innings of a seven-pitcher no-hitter in Bradenton, Florida last Saturday, retired the first 10 Blue Jays batters.

Eflin, who lost to Berrios in last season’s opener when he was playing for Tampa Bay, allowed two runs on two hits in six innings, walking one and striking out two.

Toronto’s Andres Giménez hit a two-run home run in the fourth.

In his first game with Toronto, former Oriole slugger Anthony Santander was hitless in four at-bats.

Right-handed pitcher Roansy Contreras passed through outright waivers and was assigned outright to Triple-A Norfolk.

What did Hyde think about the offensive outburst?  “I just thought we took great at-bats all the way through the game,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Happy with just the quality of the at-bat, I didn’t think we chased much. I thought we went and got pitches to hit, we put great swings on them. Unbelievable to see the day Rutschman, O’Neill and Mullins had, those guys have serious power, and it was good to see those guys get off to a good start.

“Adley had a tough second half, to see him get off to that start. Cedric’s looking to have a big year this year. And what can you say about O’Neill? He’s come over and his first game with us, when you do something that’s so crazy with six Opening Day homers, that’s mind-boggling. So just a great, great team effort today.”

What did the players think about the 6 homers? “It’s a starting pitcher’s dream — probably everybody’s dream — to get out to an early lead and be able to go after hitters and hope they swing early and hit it right at people,” Eflin said. “What a fun game to be a part of. The offense did their thing. Defense was great. Bullpen shut it down. It was just a great day.”

Rutschman hit just three home runs in the second half of last season.

“Honestly, I thought we had a great day as a team,” Rutschman said. “Opening Day is always an interesting one. Lot of nerves flying around, but I felt like our guys did a great job of coming out ready to go and, to put up a 12 spot, that always gets us a little bit of comfort and, obviously, pitching staff did great today.”

O’Neill, who brought Tim Hortons donuts for the team, had a blast in his first game with the Orioles.

“It was special. Obviously, today was the first day that we can really get a feel for what that looked like,” he said. “Spring training’s kind of spring training. It’s just a segment to get to know each other and kind of understand how we play with each other. It’s a little different when the lights turn on and you’ve got to show up. So it was really cool to see all the guys show up today. Ef pitched a great game, defense held it down, too. And we swung the sticks very well.”

Mullins had the sixth two-home run game of his career.

“We have the potential to do a lot of good things out there,” he said. “Saw a lot of really good at-bats, guys grinding through at-bats and getting good results from it.”

What does it mean? Opening Day is just one game, but Hyde said that it’s not just any game.

“I think you have to go back to it’s one of 162,” Hyde said. “But I think that we showed the type of offense that we can be and let’s talk about the pitching a little bit and how good Zach Eflin was. Picked up where he left off and he set the tone for us on the mound. We took really good at-bats early in the game, we ran into a couple outs but for the most part Ef got us in the dugout quickly and like I said the way he did it for us last year.”

What’s the word? “It’s a good start. Got a lot more games left, and we’re just going to try and keep doing the same thing and keep working.”-Rutschman on the big win. 

What’s the stat of the day? 12. The Orioles’ 12 runs were the second most on an Opening Day. They scored 13 runs against Kansas City on April 5^th, 1982.

What’s going on in the minor leagues? Shortstop Gunnar Henderson will begin his rehab assignment on Friday when Triple-A Norfolk opens its season against Durham. Henderson is recovering from a strained right intercostal muscle.

The other Orioles’ affiliates begin play next week.

What’s next? Charlie Morton will start against Kevin Gausman on Friday night at 7:07. The game will be shown exclusively on AppleTV+

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