Pirates' Bailey Falter seeks improvement vs. Orioles

After getting rocked in his season debut, Pittsburgh left-hander Bailey Falter will be up against another stiff challenge when the Pirates host the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday.

Falter (0-0, 13.50 ERA) was tagged for six runs on five hits in four innings on Sunday, but he came away with a no-decision as Pittsburgh beat the Miami Marlins 9-7 in 10 innings.

Falter now will have to bounce back against a Baltimore club that racked up 12 hits in a 5-2 victory over the Pirates on Friday in the opener of a three-game series. It was only Pittsburgh's second loss in eight games to start the season.

Falter has faced the Orioles just once in his career, when he gave up one hit in one scoreless inning of relief in 2021.

One of the few positives for the Pirates on Friday was the performance of Oneil Cruz, who went 3-for-4 with a solo homer. Cruz is batting .344 so far (11-for-32), a welcome sign after a fractured fibula limited him to nine games in 2023.

"(Hitting coach) Andy (Haines) and our group has done a good job making (Cruz) realize that there's a lot of the field to use and to go ahead and use it," Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton said. "If he uses the other side of the field ... you're not going to throw him out -- if he puts the ball on the ground and infielders have to go one way or another.

"It's just the maturation of him as a hitter."

Orioles right-hander Tyler Wells (0-1, 4.50 ERA) will attempt to keep Cruz and the rest of the Pirates' lineup in check when he makes his second start of the year on Saturday.

Wells yielded four runs (three earned) and five hits in six innings in a 4-1 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday. The offense didn't come through for Wells, as Baltimore mustered just three hits.

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde wasn't entirely pleased with the team's Friday showing, either, one in which Baltimore went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight on base.

"We left some runs out there throughout the game that we need to do a better job," Hyde said.

Both teams had to deal with unique weather conditions in the series opener, as snow, hail, rain and a touch of sunshine made their way into the mix.

"Luckily it didn't snow whenever I was up to bat, but there were some definitely unfortunate at-bats whenever it was starting to come down pretty hard there," Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson said. "It's just kind of a hang-with-them day."

The precipitation is expected to ease in Pittsburgh on Saturday.

"I've played in snow before," Shelton said. "I've played in rain. I don't know if I've ever played in two hailstorms. You just kind of adapt and adjust to it. Unfortunately, both hailstorms happened when we were hitting. We need to figure out how we can maneuver that next time."

The Pirates also will hope to maneuver their way past Wells, who earned an impressive win the only time he faced Pittsburgh. He threw seven scoreless innings of one-hit ball, striking out eight and walking two on May 13, 2023.