Baltimore Orioles Rookie Has MLB First in Weird Game Against Yankees

The Baltimore Orioles have a rising star on their hands.

Jun 19, 2024; Bronx, New York, USA; Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Cade Povich (37) pitches in the first inning against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. / Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

The Baltimore Orioles just won a highly important extra-inning game against the New York Yankees and a rookie pitcher made interesting baseball history in the process.

The anticipated pitching duel of rookie Cade Povich versus Gerrit Cole making his 2024 debut did not disappoint.

Povich certainly didn't have the cleanest day, but he battled to bounce back from getting shelled in his last outing to have a solid outing.

His final line was odd: 4.2 innings, 1 hit, 1 run, 1 earned run, 5 walks and 1 strikeout.

Jacob Calvin Meyer of the Baltimore Sun shared a fascinating nugget that his final stat line was actually the first time that it had been done in over 238,000 MLB games.

It's rare to see your pitcher have more walks than innings pitched, but still feel good about his performance. It's important to have your pitchers show the ability to dominate, but also battle through adversity. Baltimore's southpaw did both.

The 24-year-old sat down 10 batters in a row at one point. His biggest out of the day, though, came when he got MVP-favorite Juan Soto to ground out to third after walking back-to-back players.

He was one of the prospects included in the Jorge Lopez trade with the Minnesota Twins back in 2022.

At that point, the Reno native was just Minnesota's No. 27 prospect. He has made his way up to the No. 9 overall prospect in the Orioles farm system but still does not rank within the Top 100 players in the MLB pipeline.

His great start to 2024 between both major and minor leagues could have even more respect headed his way, though.

In 11 starts for Triple A Norfolk, he had a 3.34 ERA and just 1.112 WHIP. He's known for striking out batters at a very high rate, but that hasn't necessarily translated to the Majors yet.

His MLB debut saw him go six scoreless against the Atlanta Braves, but he followed that up by getting tabbed with six runs against the Toronto Blue Jays. Now, he bounced back with a solid, albeit confusing, day against New York.