McDermott works through trouble in 'emotional' MLB debut

MIAMI -- What is a Major League debut without some adversity?

The fifth Orioles prospect to make his entrance into The Show this season, Chayce McDermott didn't get through his first big league start without some trouble. But he handled it as well as he could while making some memories that will last a lifetime.

Baltimore’s No. 7 prospect per MLB Pipeline, McDermott threw 82 pitches (52 strikes) over four innings, allowing three runs on five hits (one homer) and three walks with three strikeouts in the Orioles’ 6-3 loss to the Marlins on Wednesday at loanDepot park.

“It was crazy,” McDermott said. “Got done at the game [on] Sunday in Norfolk and then got home and got the call from [Triple-A pitching coach Justin] Ramsey that they wanted me to be up on the taxi squad, just in case. And it was a cool experience to find out last night that I was gonna get the start.”

The Orioles arrived in Miami operating with a four-man rotation, and they wanted to give Corbin Burnes an extra day of rest, pushing back his start until Thursday’s finale.

Enter: McDermott. Baltimore added the 25-year-old to the taxi squad prior to the trip, then activated him pregame Wednesday. McDermott, who was acquired from Houston as part of the three-team deal involving Trey Mancini in ‘22, has been solid at Triple-A Norfolk this season. The O’s 2023 Minor League Pitcher of the Year, he entered Wednesday tied for the Minor League lead in strikeouts (129 over 91 innings) this season.

So McDermott went to work, and did so enthusiastically: He wasted no time taking the mound in the bottom of the first inning, causing him to wait at least 30 seconds for catcher Adley Rutschman to get behind the plate to start warming up.

“[I was] a little bit nervous but at the same time kind of overjoyed, a little bit emotional,” said McDermott, who had a dozen family members and friends in attendance. “It's cool for me -- not just me but my family too, my wife gets to experience it, she's been here through it all with me, and my parents and my brother were here so they got to experience it as they were with me through the whole thing too.”

There were a couple key moments, though, that stood out in McDermott’s debut.

The first was his first K. McDermott worked out of a jam with runners on the corners in the second inning, getting Nick Gordon on the eighth pitch of his at-bat via a foul tip strikeout. McDermott had fallen behind in the count, 2-1, after three pitches. But he stuck with the aggressive approach he’s known for, working all areas of the zone to get the count to 2-2 before the fourth pitch Gordon fouled off was tipped into Rutschman’s glove.

McDermott carried that momentum into the third inning, setting down the side in order before opening the fourth with his third K of the night: a three-pitch strikeout of Jake Burger.

But McDermott’s night was far from over. That strikeout of Burger proved the easiest part of the fourth inning, as the Marlins pounced. First, Josh Bell homered, taking advantage of a missed-location slider to give Miami the early lead. Then, the next three batters singled before McDermott recorded another out, which came via a run-scoring sac fly from Nick Gordon.

“Disappointed a little bit, didn't execute some pitches,” McDermott said. “Wanted to give the team a chance to win. … But I felt like I handled myself pretty well at the same time and just [had] a chance to learn.

“I think I could have done better [building up the strike zone]. The splitter was kind of off today, and I feel like that's been a really big pitch for me recently. … These guys are big league hitters, they're going to expose me on some of those and that's a thing to learn from.”

“I thought he threw the ball well, especially early, but the stuff was good,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Kind of ran into a lot of pitches there in that fourth inning, with some [long] ABs against them, kind of had a tough time finishing guys, but I thought the stuff was good and thought he did an OK job.”

Offensively, it was another slow day for Baltimore. The O’s had just one hit through the first 5 1/3 innings before breaking out in the sixth inning, thanks to a game-tying, bases-clearing double from Colton Cowser. But other than Cowser’s knock, the Orioles struggled against starter Edward Cabrera and couldn’t rally against what has been a stellar Marlins bullpen recently.

“Well, there was -- that was really a frustrating game,” Hyde said, “facing the guy that walks 20 percent of hitters and has a 7.00 ERA, we got basically a double and that was pretty much [it]. So yeah, not our best at-bats.”