'Definitely a whirlwind': Rogers makes 1st O's start 3 hours after arrival

CLEVELAND -- At 3:27 p.m. ET on Thursday, Trevor Rogers walked into the visitors’ clubhouse at Progressive Field. An attendant carried the left-hander’s bag, which still featured a Marlins logo.

Rogers had been a member of the Orioles for less than 48 hours at that point. He hadn’t even met any of his new teammates until first baseman Ryan O’Hearn walked up to Rogers’ locker to introduce himself shortly upon the former Miami hurler’s arrival.

After a quick pregame meeting with manager Brandon Hyde and Baltimore’s staff, Rogers was tasked with starting the 6:40 p.m. series opener vs. the American League-best Guardians. Not exactly a soft landing spot for a player just uprooted from the only organization he had known.

As such, Rogers had a bit of a bumpy start to his O’s career. The 26-year-old southpaw allowed five runs over 4 1/3 innings in Baltimore’s 10-3 loss to Cleveland. He yielded six hits -- including a three-run homer to David Fry in the third -- with three walks and three strikeouts.

“It was definitely a whirlwind today, something that I really haven’t been through before,” said Rogers, the Marlins' 2017 first-round Draft pick who spent his first five MLB seasons with the club. “I’m not going to sit here and make excuses. Still got to execute the game plan, and really didn’t give my team a chance today.”

A trade can’t be accurately judged following only a short amount of time, and most certainly not after two days. The Orioles may have parted with two promising young players in Tuesday’s Deadline deal with the Marlins -- infield prospect Connor Norby and outfielder Kyle Stowers -- but they’re optimistic that Rogers can be a key rotation contributor for the rest of this season and the next two years.

Thursday’s outing could end up being among Rogers’ worst down the stretch for Baltimore, as it marked his toughest showing in nearly three months. He allowed five or more earned runs only once over 21 starts for Miami this season -- May 4, when he yielded eight in 2 1/3 innings at Oakland -- and he had given up two or fewer in eight of his previous nine outings.

“He’s acclimating to the club,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “I’m sure he was really excited to get out there.”

The O’s gave Rogers a 1-0 lead before he took the mound, as Colton Cowser opened the game with a double and scored on a double by Gunnar Henderson. But the Guardians quickly answered back in the bottom of the first.

Rogers’ Baltimore career began with a single to Steven Kwan, followed by a double from Lane Thomas. Both later came around to score -- Kwan on a sac fly by José Ramírez and Thomas on a single from Josh Naylor.

The first inning Rogers threw to catcher Adley Rutschman came shortly after their first meeting.

“We pretty much shook hands, introduced each other, and he said, ‘I got you tonight,’” Rogers said. “I’m like, ‘All right, let’s get after it.’”

Although Rogers settled in a bit -- retiring six straight batters from the first to third -- he ran into trouble again with two outs in the third, as a Ramírez double and a Naylor walk preceded Fry’s home run that broke the game open.

During the 94-pitch outing, Rogers used a balanced four-pitch mix -- sinker, slider, four-seam fastball and changeup -- inducing multiple whiffs with each of his offerings and finishing with nine total. But Cleveland generated a lot of hard contact, with 12 of the 16 batted balls against the lefty recording an exit velocity of 95-plus mph, per Statcast, including seven at 103-plus.

Rogers doesn’t have a ton of experience pitching in meaningful games this late into a season. Last year -- when Miami seized a National League Wild Card berth -- he was sidelined due to injuries (a left biceps strain/right lat strain). So Rogers is looking forward to the next two months.

“I’ll always miss the guys down in Miami; I’ve got some good friends down there,” Rogers said. “But just coming to this organization right in the dog days of August, playing some really fun baseball the last two months, it’s something that I really haven’t been able to be a part of, being hurt all last year. So I’m just fired up to be here.”

And Rogers is confident his performance will get back on track soon.

“I’m fortunate to get this one out of the way and get my feet underneath me,” Rogers said, “and go out and compete my next time out.”