SARASOTA, Fla. – Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman found a different way to bond with Japanese pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano and to learn more about his new teammate. They got away from the field and the clubhouse. They got away from baseball.
They played a round of golf this week.
“He’s a funny guy, just a cool dude,” Rutschman said tonight. “I know with the language barrier it’s kind of tough sometimes to make those connections, but he seems like a really down-to-earth guy. He works his butt off every single day. Just to see a guy like that in a new environment and getting comfortable and doing his thing has been really cool for me to watch, and I think everyone else.”
Who’s the better golfer?
“He is,” Rutschman said without hesitation. “He’s really good.”
Sugano also knows how to pitch. He hadn’t allowed a run this spring in 10 1/3 innings, but his streak was snapped tonight in the first inning.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. would be Sugano’s own personal menace.
Sugano threw 17 pitches to the first three batters and only eight were strikes. Aaron Judge walked, Jasson Domínguez lined a single into center field with two outs and Chisholm barreled the next pitch and doubled to right field. Heston Kjerstad was unable to make a running catch at the track, and two runs scored.
The inning cost Sugano 22 pitches, 12 for strikes.
The Japanese right-hander faced Chisholm again with two runners on base and one out in the third inning after another Judge walk and Cody Bellinger’s single, and the result was worse. Chisholm stood at home plate and admired his work, a three-run shot for a 5-1 lead.
Sugano allowed five runs and six hits in 4 2/3 innings, with two walks and four strikeouts. He retired the last six batters. Chisholm had five RBIs.
Oswaldo Cabrera fell behind 0-2 and singled to lead off the second inning, but Sugano retired the next three batters and struck out Alex Jackson. Thirteen of his 18 pitches were strikes. He retired the side in order in the fourth and struck out Jackson again. Ten of his 13 pitches were strikes.
The odd innings were the real trouble spots.
“My command gradually got better,” Sugano said via interpreter Yuto Sakurai. “Like the first couple innings my command wasn’t there, so I kind of felt bad for Adley. But as the game went on, it went better and better.”
Judge must have appeared to get bigger and bigger.
“We were just talking about the size of him,” Sugano said. “I don’t think I ever faced someone like that.”
Seranthony Domínguez replaced Sugano with two outs in the fifth, which began with Judge striking out, and he got a ground ball. Sugano threw 84 pitches, 53 for strikes.
“I really liked what he did tonight,” Rutschman said. “He wanted to work on his splitter a little bit more tonight, threw that at a good clip. We were facing a lot of the Yankees starters, getting a feel for how his stuff plays, and I think honestly he did exactly what he wanted to do tonight. Worked the ball around the zone and just go out there and compete.”
Rutschman said Sugano knows more English than he does Japanese.
“I’ve been trying to learn a couple words here and there,” Rutschman said.
“I feel like everybody talks to me more compared to when I first got here,” Sugano said. “It’s not just Adley, but everybody on the team has been communicating with me.”
Sugano answered in English when asked who’s the better golfer.
“Me.”
* Ryan O’Hearn has homered in consecutive games, including his two-out solo shot to right field tonight off Will Warren.
Meanwhile, Rutschman has kept rolling throughout the spring. He hit a wind-aided, opposite-field three-run homer in the third after Jackson Holliday and Cedric Mullins singled – his 13th hit in 35 at-bats, with three homers, eight RBIs, five walks and nine runs scored.
Rutschman flied to left field in the fourth, again going the opposite way.
“I’ve been feeling good,” he said. “It’s a long season and lots of things to come, but as of right now I feel really good. Got great players, great coaches around me, and I think everyone’s excited to get going.”
* Domínguez retired four of the five batters faced and struck out two, but Anthony Volpe homered in the sixth. Domínguez has surrendered five homers this spring, but his ERA dropped to 19.50.
“Messing around with the splitter, curveball, and that’s what the game’s all about is giving hitters different looks, keeping guys off-balance,” Rutschman said.
“I think those two pitches, him working on those today and throughout camp have been really good. Again, giving hitters different looks is the name of the game and I think those pitches really served him well.”
* The game started 50 minutes late due to rain. … Colton Cowser celebrated his 25th birthday with singles in the second and third innings that made him 16-for-37 this spring. … Holliday and O’Hearn also had two hits . … Ryan Mountcastle came off the bench and singled in his first at-bat. … Luis Vazquez replaced Ramón Urías at third base and had an RBI single in the sixth. … Jorge Mateo wasn’t in the lineup but he entered the game at second base. … Keegan Akin struck out two batters in a scoreless seventh, but Matt Bowman allowed three runs in the eighth. … A sellout crowd of 8,498 attended the game, the largest Ed Smith Stadium crowd since March 20, 2019.
* The Orioles lost 9-7. They got an RBI double from Vimael Machín and run-scoring bloop single from Mateo in the ninth and had the bases loaded with no outs, but Jordany Ventura entered the game and struck out the next three batters.
Hyde on Sugano:
“I thought besides the two Chisholm at-bats, he was pretty good. A lot of mix, which he’s gonna do. I thought he had a good outing. He got his pitch count up. It was good for him to see some guys he’s gonna face during the season, the AL East.”
Hyde on Sugano’s relationships with catchers:
“It’s going great. We have two awesome people behind the plate with Gary and Adley and they’re working really hard to get to know him well. The communication’s been really, really good.”
Hyde on golf outing and bonding:
“Our guys are hanging out a lot together and that’s a sign of a team that’s close. Everybody’s going out of their way to make the new guys feel welcome, also. I like the chemistry of our club right now, and it was really cool to hear about that.”
