Orioles No. 9 prospect goes 6 shutout innings in home debut
*Cover Photo Credit: Ulysses Munoz, The Baltimore Banner
For Cade Povich, there would be two debuts. First up was his Major League debut which occured last Thursday in the Rogers Centre where he tossed 5.1 innings of 6-run baseball against the Blue Jays.
Last night, his second debut came, his home debut. He stepped on the rubber at Oriole Park at Camden Yards for the very first time. Povich had his first opportunity to show the home fans what he is capable of doing, though he had a tough task at hand with the imposing lineup of the NL East's Atlanta Braves.
With his parents watching in the seats and with trusted All-Star backstop Adley Rutschman behind the plate catching, the Orioles' No. 9 prospect got off to a great start in the first inning. He quickly retired Michael Harris II and Ozzie Albies on groundouts before finishing a 6-pitch battle with Marcell Ozuna with a strikeout. He spun his bread-and-butter curveball low in the dirt to get the veteran slugger on strikes.
After hitting All-Star first baseman Matt Olson with a pitch to start the second inning, Povich quickly recovered and retired the next three batters on 14 pitches. He ended the second inning with a strikeout of catcher Sean Murphy.
So far, so good. The night would just keep getting better for Povich.
Povich tossed another scoreless inning in the third, only yielding a 2-out single to Harris. By the time he returned to the rubber for the fourth inning, the Orioles had put two runs on the board for him to work with. After allowing two singles to start the fourth inning, Povich grinded his way out of trouble by retiring the next three Braves hitters. Murphy grounded into a force out to end the inning and get Povich out of a jam.
Povich ended up going 6 total innings without allowing a single run. Having thrown 89 pitches (63 strikes), he struck out 6 batters while allowing just 5 hits and walking none. According to MLB.com, he got 14 whiffs with 6 of them being from his late-breaking high-70s curveball. He got Adam Duvall to pop out to Gunnar Henderson for his final batter of the night.
After two big league starts, he has an impressive 1.235 WHIP and a 4.26 ERA. This is just the fifth time that an Orioles starter has gone six or more scoreless innings with six or more punchouts in either his first or second MLB start. The others are Mike Wright (2015), Tom Phoebus (twice in 1966), and Charlie Beamon (1956).
Povich has been applauded by teammates and manager Brandon Hyde for his pregame work ethic. In each of his starts, he has spent extended time watching film, studying the opposing lineup, and seeking knowledge and advice from his peers.
"Learning from some of our other starters throughout the week, I picked up on some cues just to be prepared going into the start, who I'm facing," he said in an interview.
Hyde was amazed at Povich's aggression which contributed to him keeping a threatening NL lineup quiet and off balanced.
"He just threw a ton of strikes and did an unbelievable job," Hyde said in his postgame interview. "It's only two starts, but that was impressive tonight. That's a good lineup and that team is going to get going offensively. The way [Povich] kept them off balance was so impressive, to be able to drop curveballs in when he wanted to and get them to chase in advantage counts, that was everything that we needed and more."
The Orioles would eventually lose the lead in the eigth inning after Olson launched a game-tying 2-run home run off of Keegan Akin, though former top prospect Colton Cowser would get those two runs back with a go-ahead (and eventually game-winning) 2-run shot of his own in the bottom half of the inning. The Orioles would pull away with a 4-2 win. Povich finished with a no-decision, but his dominance gave the Orioles a chance to extend their win streak to six games, which they did.
Go Big Red!