BOSTON -- Nearly two months later than expected, Andrew Kittredge stepped onto a mound for his Orioles debut on Wednesday afternoon against the Brewers at American Family Field. The 35-year-old right-hander (who signed a one-year, $9 million deal with Baltimore in January) had a delayed start to his ninth MLB season after undergoing left knee surgery in March.
It didn’t take long for Kittredge to remind everybody why the O’s added him to their bullpen.
Kittredge worked a 1-2-3 seventh inning in the Orioles’ 8-4, 11-inning win, needing only eight pitches (six strikes) to set down Jake Bauers (grounded out to second base), Caleb Durbin (struck out looking) and Joey Ortiz (lined out to right field).
The efficiency caught the attention of interim manager Tony Mansolino, who was standing next to pitching coach Drew French at the time.
“That might have been our quickest inning all year,” Mansolino recalled telling French.
The inning may have been fast -- it was Baltimore’s 21st frame featuring eight or fewer pitches, and the eighth by a reliever -- but Kittredge’s wait to return to big league action had felt long. He made only one Grapefruit League appearance during Spring Training, so he needed six Minor League rehab outings (five with Triple-A Norfolk, one for High-A Aberdeen) before returning to big league action.
“First one is always a little jittery, and you just want to get it out of the way and make sure that you feel good and that you remember what it feels like, and I feel like I accomplished that,” Kittredge said. “My approach is always going to be attack and be really aggressive, and sometimes that leads to quick innings. Sometimes that leads to quick trouble. But that’s my approach.
“So I wasn’t necessarily surprised that it ended up having a lower pitch count, just because I was really aggressive in the zone. It was good. More so than anything, I just wanted to get through that one unscathed so I could move on and feel back to normal, like a pitcher again.”
Kittredge threw six sliders and two sinkers, which weren’t surprising usage rates. In 2024, the righty threw his slider (49.4%) more often than his sinker (37.5%) while recording a 2.80 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP over 74 appearances in his lone year with the Cardinals.
The Orioles entered the year planning to use Kittredge (who spent his first seven MLB seasons with the Rays) in high-leverage situations, given his track record. From 2020-24, he posted a 2.47 ERA in 182 innings over 170 games.
Now that Kittredge is healthy, he should immediately become one of Baltimore’s top setup men.
“He’s been through it for so long on some good teams in some big moments,” Mansolino said. “Just seeing how efficient he was, I think it definitely has a chance to settle some things down down there.”
During the Orioles’ disappointing start to the season, there haven’t been a ton of close leads to protect, especially of late. Baltimore (16-32) entered Friday’s series opener at Fenway Park having lost 14 of its previous 17 games, a stretch during which it dismissed manager Brandon Hyde.
It was tough for Kittredge to watch his new club struggle while he was sidelined and unable to help. But he’s ready to try to help the O’s get their season on track.
“I know that this stretch hasn’t gone the way we want it to and it’s an uphill battle from here, but we have so much talent in here,” Kittredge said. “I think that we’re fully capable of turning this around, and I think, hopefully, it’s just a mindset change from the group, and so far, it doesn’t really seem like there’s not a lot of belief in here that we can’t do it.
“I think there’s a lot of excitement moving forward. And the thing at this point is the pressure’s kind of off, it seems like. It should free us up to just go out and play like we can.”