New Baltimore Orioles Ace Corbin Burnes Makes Opening Day History in Dominant Debut
Former NL Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes showed out in his first appearance with the Baltimore Orioles, striking out 11 and allowing just one hit to the Los Angeles Angels.
The Baltimore Orioles paid a steep price to pry Corbin Burnes away from the Milwaukee Brewers this offseason, and he showed why in his first official outing with the team.
Burnes was the Orioles' Opening Day starter against the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday, which was an early vote of confidence for the 29-year-old righty. As the 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner, though, that wasn't exactly a surprising role for Burnes to earn.
After striking out the first two Angels he saw, Burnes gave up a solo home run to Mike Trout in the top of the first inning.
Burnes didn't let the mistake get to him, however, as he retired the next 16 batters who stepped up to the plate. All in all, Burnes lifted the Orioles to a season-opening 11-3 win in historic fashion.
In 6.0 innings of work, Burnes allowed one hit and one earned run – both coming on the Trout homer – while striking out 11 and not walking anyone.
According to OptaSTATS, Burnes is the first pitcher to allow one or fewer hits and strike out 10 or more batters in his team's first game of the season since Chicago Cubs right-hander Lon Warneke accomplished the feat on April 17, 1934.
Burnes has topped 10 wins and 200 strikeouts in each of the past three seasons, being named an All-Star in each of those campaigns. He has placed top-eight in NL Cy Young voting four years in a row, boasting a 2.86 ERA and 0.996 WHIP in that span.
Now that he's started the season 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA, 0.167 WHIP and 16.5 strikeouts per nine innings, Burnes looks to be gunning for the AL Cy Young in 2024.
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