BRADENTON, Florida–What’s happening? Grayson Rodriguez will start for the Orioles when they play the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday at Ed Smith Stadium at 1:05 p.m. Easton Lucas, a former Orioles minor leaguer, will start for the Blue Jays.

Zach Eflin will start on Friday when the Orioles play the Minnesota Twins in Fort Myers. Zebby Matthews will start for the Twins. Cade Povich will start Saturday against the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Paul Skenes.

Manager Brandon Hyde has been impressed with the Orioles’ work in the field.

“I think our work in the back fields has been really good,” Hyde said. “Just another year of experience for a lot of these guys is so helpful. The more experience you have in the major leagues, the more you can slow the game down. The more you understand what you need to get ready for the game, preparing for the season. Our guys  understand what it’s about now. Hopefully, we can continue to play clean baseball out there.”

What’s happened? Former Japanese pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano pitched two scoreless innings in his first appearance for the Orioles. He allowed two hits and walked a batter in the Orioles’ 7-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates before 3,544 at LECOM Park on Wednesday.

Sugano threw 28 pitches, just six in the first inning, and mixed in six types of pitches — four-seam fastball, changeup, sinker, cutters, curveball and one sweeper.

“Especially in the second inning, I was working on things,” Sugano said through a translator. “The first inning was a quick inning, but overall a good outing.”

When Sugano was asked if he was nervous, he answered “no” in English.

“I was trying to work on the PitchCom, the pitch clock and the communication with the catcher, the overall environment,” he said.

Sugano was caught by Gary Sánchez, who’s enjoying working with him.

“We’ve been having great communication this spring,” Sánchez said. “Today before the game and during the game, we talk a lot. Overall, we’ve been having good communication.”

Sugano has goals this spring. “I want to work on the pitch sequence more. Right now, I’m just doing pitch-by-pitch, so I want to work on the pitch sequence moving forward.”

Sánchez thought Sugano threw well.

“Really good outing for it being his first game,” Sánchez said through a translator. “Two clean innings. I feel like we were able to mix his pitches and he was able to execute them. His split looked good. His pitches looked good. It was nice.

“Today we were focused on just executing different pitches. He told me to go out there and call whatever I thought was best, and I also told him, ‘hey, if you feel like throwing anything specific, or doing anything specific, feel free to do so as well. We’ll have plenty of time this year to get to know each other and continue working with each other, but today that was our goal, just executing different pitches.”

Hyde was pleased.

“I thought he had like a really quick first inning, just a ton of strikes,” he said. “I thought he had really good stuff. I thought he commanded his fastball well. He threw some really good split-fingers. Didn’t seem like he had much rust. He was pretty good for the first time. He’s got elite command of multiple pitches and when he misses, he misses just off. It’s a lot of fun to watch.”

Andrew Kittredge allowed two hits in the third inning. Luis González pitched a scoreless fourth, walking two batters.

Jackson Holliday’s error in the bottom of the fifth led to the first of two Pittsburgh runs with Kade Strowd on the mound.

Matt Bowman allowed a two-run home run to Matt Gorski in the sixth, his third against the Orioles in two games.

Corbin Martin allowed a run in the seventh, and Rodolfo Martinez gave up two runs in the eighth.

The Orioles scored on Liván Soto’s RBI double in the fifth and Dylan Carlson’s run-scoring single in the sixth. Samuel Basallo’s sacrifice fly in the seventh was the Orioles’ final run. 

What’s up with? Nick Gordon was the fifth overall choice in the 2014 draft by Minnesota.  He’s in camp on a minor league contract. He’s played second base, shortstop and the outfield in four seasons with the Twins and Miami Marlins.

Last year, Gordon hit .227 with eight home runs and 32 RBIs in 95 games for the Marlins.

“We’re still early in camp. Camp is awesome. I’m getting some good work in,” Gordon said. “I feel that’s been one of the best things, just getting here and learning more stuff about myself and how to become a better ballplayer.”

Gordon said he chose the Orioles because “they’re a great organization. Look at the things they’re doing. They’re a winning ballclub. The culture here … They don’t quit. They’re a great club. That’s definitely something I’m trying to be a part of, play some winning baseball.”

Gordon is the son of longtime major league pitcher Tom Gordon, who played 21 seasons. His brother, Dee-Strange Gordon, played 11 seasons.

Nick Gordon says that he pitched in high school, but he wanted to play every day.

“Having fun, trusting in yourself, believing in the work that you put in, and just going out and playing the game and enjoying it,” he said.

What’s what? Brian Roberts will be the analyst on about 20 Orioles telecasts this season, a part-time job he’s enjoying. He was in camp this week as a guest instructor, working with infielders and on base-stealing.

“I love it. It’s a lot of fun,” Roberts said. “It’s fun to call games when the team is really good when the games are exciting and you’ve got a really good chance of winning. I just enjoy the challenge. I enjoy having something to work at and get better at.

“It really blows my mind every time I’m up there to sit with the play-by-play guys. You don’t have a full respect for it until you do it, and I like that part of just learning something new and trying to get better at it.”

What’s the word? “I faced Andrew McCutchen about eight years ago in the [World Baseball Classic], so it’s somewhat nostalgic.”-Sugano on whether he was familiar with any Pirate players.

What’s the number? 93/74.2. Those were the speeds of Sugano’s fastest and slowest pitches.

What’s the record? 2-2. The Orioles will play the Toronto Blus Jays on Thursday at 1:05 p.m. at Ed Smith Stadium.