Orioles set record with 6 homers to crush Blue Jays, 12-2, on Opening Day

Matt Weyrich, The Baltimore Sun on Mar 27, 2025

Published in Baseball

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TORONTO — It took only two batters for the Orioles to get settled into the 2025 season.

Adley Rutschman hit a 436-foot home run in his first at-bat and went back-to-back with Jordan Westburg in the eighth inning, Tyler O’Neill homered for his MLB-record sixth consecutive Opening Day and Cedric Mullins launched a pair of long balls himself to lead an offensive explosion in a 12-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday afternoon.

The Orioles’ six home runs set a franchise record for their most in an Opening Day game, eclipsing the total of four they hit in their inaugural games of the 1982 and 2006 seasons.

Coming off a year in which the Orioles’ offense struggled over the second half and disappeared on the playoff stage, their young lineup entered the new season looking for a new slate. They turned the page quickly by jumping all over Blue Jays starter José Berríos and putting a runner in scoring position or better in each of the first eight innings.

Rutschman wasted little time putting them on the board with his solo shot on a 2-1 pitch in the first and O’Neill opened up a 5-0 lead with his record-extending, three-run blast two innings later. Mullins, who has started in center field on five consecutive Orioles Opening Days and six of the past seven, left the yard twice with a solo home run in the fourth and a two-run blast in the seventh that put the game firmly out of hand.

The offensive outburst marked the third straight season the Orioles (1-0) have scored at least 10 runs and recorded as many hits in their season opener. Rutschman, who went 5 for 5 in his first Opening Day two years ago, has started to make multi-hit games in the Orioles opener an annual tradition. He pushed his career Opening Day numbers to 10 for 14 (.714) with three homers, nine RBIs, two walks and seven runs scored with the performance.

Zach Eflin ensured that the Orioles were just as sharp on the mound, retiring the first 10 batters he faced and pitching six innings of two-run ball. Second baseman Andrés Giménez dealt the lone blemish against him — a two-run homer in the fourth — but Eflin pitched an efficient outing. Manager Brandon Hyde pulled him at 78 pitches after six frames, sparing his Opening Day starter from a heavy workload with a long season ahead.

Seranthony Domínguez worked around two walks and a wild pitch to pitch a scoreless frame in the seventh, a troubling sign after he recorded a 19.50 ERA in spring training. But he helped keep the score intact and Keegan Akin and Bryan Baker followed with clean outings of their own to shut the door on the Blue Jays.

Former Orioles outfielder Anthony Santander, playing his first game with the club he joined in free agency, went 0 for 4 at the plate.