Despite injury troubles for Orioles’ rotation, team runs out to 4-0 start

 

 

Starting pitcher Jake Arrieta pitches in the first inning of the Baltimore Orioles’ home opener against the Detroit Tigers at Camden Yards in Baltimore Monday.

BALTIMORE -- As pitching ailments have piled up, the Orioles have done a bit more than shrug aside the adversity. It's been more of an all-out shove.
Brian Matusz, Justin Duchscherer and Jeremy Guthrie have all been sidelined, forcing the club to turn to options deeper on the depth chart less than a week into the season.
And entering Brad Bergesen's unexpected season debut tonight, Baltimore has handled the misfortune with aplomb.
The Orioles have opened 4-0 for the first time since 1997 and can match the best start in franchise history (5-0 in 1970) with a win tonight. The team's starters have been the key to that, combining to allow just two runs in 26 innings for a spectacular 0.69 ERA. They've also permitted just 12 hits, fanned 20 and walked nine through four contests.
They are just the second team in American League history to begin a season 4-0 while allowing no more than one run in any game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Baltimore manager Buck Showalter acknowledged Monday that he couldn't expect anything more than that.
"No you couldn't, especially with some of the challenges we've faced with Matusz and Duchscherer, and a couple of line drives off pitching arms towards the end of spring, and now Bergy's going to have to pick up the slack for Guthrie," Showalter said. "The starting pitching, obviously, this year's been everything you can ask for. They've kind of fed off each other a little bit."
Duchscherer was limited to one spring start spanning two innings before hip and back issues landed him on the 15-day disabled list to open the season.
The Orioles scratched Matusz from his start Saturday and placed him on the DL because of an intercostal strain - small muscles between the ribs. The left-hander is expected to miss anywhere from three to six weeks.
Guthrie became the latest fallen starter, as he was hospitalized Monday with a form of pneumonia. The timing couldn't have been much worse for a couple of reasons. First, Guthrie was coming off a sparkling season debut when he held Tampa Bay to three hits in eight scoreless innings. Second, he missed the Orioles' home-opening festivities. Guthrie is expected to miss five to seven days, but hasn't yet been ruled out to start April 10.
Because of Duchscherer's injuries, both right-handers Chris Tillman and Bergesen made the team out of spring training with Bergesen starting the year in the bullpen. In response to Matusz's injury, Tillman's first start was pushed up from Sunday to Saturday and top prospect Zach Britton was brought up to make his major-league debut at least three weeks before anyone expected.
And because of Guthrie's illness, Bergesen is also starting earlier than expected. Bergesen was originally slated to make his first start Sunday.
"I'm comfortable with it," Bergesen said of starting tonight. "I knew all along that I was here to fill in if needed, so when we got the bad news that Jeremy wasn't going to be able to make the start, I figured that I was going to get the call. It's upsetting that we've had [three] of our starters go down, so hopefully Jeremy will be back with us soon."
So far, the response to all the shuffling has been positive.
Tillman tossed six hitless, scoreless innings in his first start Saturday and Britton gave up one run in six innings in his initial big-league start Sunday.
Bergesen, who hopes to follow suit tonight, believes it says something about the quality of the team that the rotation has excelled despite early adversity.
"I think that the depth is the answer," Bergesen said. "We've seen that already in the first four games of the year. Hopefully we get them back, but guys are able to step up and hopefully will continue to do so."
That hot start on the mound has allowed the offense to ease into April, as everyone but Brian Roberts, Nick Markakis, Matt Wieters and J.J. Hardy have scuffled to some degree early on.
"I feel like what we've done so far is we've been able to take pressure off the hitters and it seems like they're relaxed," right-hander Jake Arrieta said. "It's fun to be a part of this team right now and I'm just real excited about the direction we're going."