SARASOTA—What’s happening? Austin Voth will get his first start of the spring when the Orioles visit the Toronto Blue Jays at TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Florida at 1:07 p.m. on Saturday.
Voth has allowed five runs on seven hits in five innings in relief. In his last appearance, he allowed three home runs to Philadelphia on March 8th. He’ll be opposed by Chris Bassitt.
The game will be broadcast on WBAL/98 Rock with Scott Garceau and Brett Hollander.
After the Orioles’ 7-6 loss to Philadelphia in Clearwater on Thursday, 12 players were reassigned to minor league camp. After Friday night’s game, the Orioles optioned right-handed pitchers Noah Denoyer and Seth Johnson to Triple-A Norfolk. Johnson may not pitch this season because he’s rehabbing from Tommy John surgery last August. Left-hander Cade Povich was assigned to minor league camp.
The most prominent cuts after Thursday’s game were infielders Coby Mayo and César Prieto. The Orioles have 56 players on their spring training roster.
“It’s time to start reducing our camp size,” manager Brandon Hyde said before Friday night’s game. “I’m going to try to bring those guys over [from minor league camp] as much as possible. We’ll have some innings at the end of games, to have them play in some more games … We want to see these guys get reps.”
One player who remained in camp was shortstop Jackson Holliday, the overall top pick in last year’s draft. Holliday has played in only 20 professional games.
“To have him work out with us a little bit longer and he’s continuing to play at the end of spring training games at short,” Hyde said.
Andrew Politi allowed a pair of two-run home runs on Thursday while recording two outs. He had pitched three scoreless innings in his first three appearances.
“You’re not going to have scoreless innings every time out,” Hyde said. “To go through some adversity and see how he bounces back, I think is going to be important. Still showed a good curveball [Thursday]. We like his breaking ball a lot. I think he missed his spot and they got to him.
“We love his stuff. We like the poise and the presence he has on the mound. He’s been throwing strikes for the most part. We’ll look to see how he bounces back from that inning.”
Governor Moore was a guest of Orioles Chairman and CEO John Angelos in Sarasota. He took batting practice and threw out the first pitch to Adley Rutschman.
Angelos has said that a new lease for Camden Yards could get done by the All-Star break.
“I’m very confident that we’re moving fast on this,” Moore said. “It should not be lost on anybody that the first trip that I took outside of the state was down here, to spend time with the Orioles, was to make sure they understand how big of a priority this is for me and how big a priority this is for the state.
“We feel very confident that we have the same goal. The goal is to make sure there is Orioles baseball in Baltimore for generations to come and I feel very good about our prospects to get this deal done quickly.”
On Thursday, Angelos and Moore toured the area around Truist Park in Atlanta, which features restaurants, retail stores and hotels. Angelos envisions a similar area around Camden Yards.
What happened? Kyle Bradish became the first Oriole starter to pitch four innings. He allowed one run on two hits, striking out eight and walking one as the Orioles played to a 5-5 tie with the Minnesota Twins before an announced crowd of 6,897 at Ed Smith Stadium on Friday night.
Bradish has allowed two runs on four hits in nine innings. He has struck out 12 and walked two.
“Eight strikeouts is good no matter what game it is,” Bradish said. “It just means you’re in the zone. That’s the big thing for me.”
Mychal Givens pitched a scoreless fifth and Bryan Baker allowed a run in the sixth. Povich allowed one run in two innings, and Eduard Bazardo gave up two runs in the ninth.
Terrin Vavra returned to the lineup after missing six days because of left shoulder discomfort and was 1-for-2. He left after three innings at third base.
“Good to get out there and get some at-bats and see some pitches,” Vavra said. “I don’t ask too many questions. When they told me to come out, I come out.”
Vavra is 7-for-13 (.538) this spring. He’ll play on Saturday as well.
Two runs scored in the bottom of the eighth when Minnesota shortstop Danny De Andrade made an error on Connor Norby’s sharp grounder, but the Twins tied it in the top of the ninth.
What’s up with? Joey Krehbiel threw a spotless inning on Thursday. In his first two appearances, he allowed eight runs on eight hits in 1 2/3 innings.
“It feels good for the obvious reasons,” Krehbiel said. “It felt better just to get three outs and knowing that fixing what I was doing before really helped with the pitching coaches and the guys helping me out, pointing out things I didn’t realize.
“It’s not like it’s a snap-of-the-finger fix. Because of the outing yesterday, I have a much better feeling going into my outings now that I feel more confident in what I used to do instead of doing what I was doing.”
Krehbiel knows that it will be difficult to make the team.
“I think I need to do everything I can and if that’s enough, great,” he said. “If it’s not enough, great. I’ll be back up there at some point in time. In my own head, selfishly just thinking about me, I’m pretty confident in where I’m at. The competition is crazy. Everyone is so good. It doesn’t matter, older guy or young guy. Everybody has an equal opportunity here. You’ve got to pitch your butt off to get there, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
What’s what? I’ve been in Sarasota since February 14th, and the rain that fell during the fifth inning was the first of the spring. It lasted about 15 minutes and did not delay play. It also rained in the ninth inning.
What’s the word? “This is a good bunch of guys. They play the game right. They really enjoy being around each other. This is an incredibly talented team. It’s also a very egoless team, which is really fun to watch because they will outwork everybody. They will play together. This team is going to have a great year. This team epitomizes everything we love about Baltimore, everything we love about Maryland. This year, they’re going to put on a show, and it’s going to be fun to watch.”-Governor Wes Moore on the Orioles.
What’s the number? 3 Givens was called for his third balk this spring. He’s committed one balk in 419 major league games.
What’s the record? 5-7-2. The Orioles will face the Toronto Blue Jays at TD Ballpark in Dunedin at 1:07 p.m. on Saturday.
Call for questions: I’ll be answering Orioles questions next week. Please email them to: [email protected].