Orioles right-hander Mike Wright ran into trouble in the second inning of his first Grapefruit League start of 2017 in Tuesday afternoon’s 7-5 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, allowing a two-run homer to prospect Tommy Joseph. But Wright felt good about his spring debut.

Wright is looking to rebound from a rough 2016 that began with him in the Opening Day rotation and ended with him owning a 5.79 ERA. He threw strikes and was aggressive in the zone Tuesday, but let a slider sneak over the plate to Joseph.

Joseph’s home run came after Michael Saunders reached on a fielding error by Orioles second baseman Johnny Giavotella after Wright retired the first four batters he faced on the day.

“I threw a lot of good pitches and I’m really happy with some of the pitches I threw,” Wright said. “That pitch, I wish I could have back, but I’m really happy with the progression I’ve made as far as mindset and going out there and executing pitches.”

Twenty-six of Wright’s 33 pitches were strikes.

“Yeah, it’s good to get out there,” Wright said. “It feels like it’s been forever. That’s the longest I’ve ever had between starts, but it’s fun to be out there and it’s good that I was throwing strikes.”

When manager Buck Showalter wanted to catch a glimpse of last year’s first-round draft pick Cody Sedlock, he made sure he did so at a distance, going to Short-A Aberdeen the night after an Orioles day game to watch him throw a side session. 

“I didn’t want to get too close,” Showalter said. “I…

When manager Buck Showalter wanted to catch a glimpse of last year’s first-round draft pick Cody Sedlock, he made sure he did so at a distance, going to Short-A Aberdeen the night after an Orioles day game to watch him throw a side session. 

“I didn’t want to get too close,” Showalter said. “I…

The Orioles (2-3 Grapefruit League) blew a two-run eighth-inning lead, with the Phillies scoring four runs off 2016 first-round draft pick Cody Sedlock, who was shuttled in from minor league camp to make his first Grapefruit League appearance.

Sedlock, the 27th pick in last year’s draft out of Illinois, was hit hard, allowing a two-run homer to Brock Stassi and a solo homer to Aaron Altherr. 

The Orioles had broken a 3-3 tie in the seventh inning on catcher Yermin Mercedes’ two-out single followed by a run-scoring double by minor league infielder Sean Coyle.

Dickerson goes deep

Orioles outfielder Chris Dickerson, who was batting leadoff, hit his first home run of the spring, a solo shot in the third inning that cut the Phillies’ lead to 2-1.

Aquino shuts ’em down

Left-hander Jayson Aquino tossed two scoreless innings in relief, retiring six of the seven batters he faced, his walk to Chris Coghlan marking the only base runner he allowed. 

eencina@baltsun.com

twitter.com/EddieInTheYard

Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.