ARLINGTON, Texas — Perhaps everything will come in twos for Corbin Burnes now.

Less than three weeks ago, he and his wife, Brooke, welcomed twin baby girls into the world. His whirlwind Tuesday to pitch in the All-Star Game also featured a pair of twins.

The Orioles ace flew into Dallas early Tuesday morning to make it to Globe Life Field in time for the red carpet and to start the game for the American League. Burnes pitched a scoreless first inning, and less than 12 hours after he arrived, he hopped on a flight back to Arizona to get back to his family.

“It’s just kind of been a crazy first half of the year for me, and so to cap it off with this, it’s pretty cool,” Burnes said. “But yeah, I think at some point I’ll be able to sit down and think about it and reflect. But this has just been an awesome experience, getting to start and getting to be around this group of guys.”

Burnes, whom the Orioles acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers this offseason, kicked off the Midsummer Classic pitching to teammate Adley Rutschman. Facing a gantlet atop the National League lineup, his inning ended with two hugs with both teams’ catchers.

He got leadoff hitter Ketel Marte of the Arizona Diamondbacks to ground out to open the game. After walking Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, he induced a flyout of Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Trea Turner to center field. Phillies slugger Bryce Harper’s 0-2 double down the left field line put two runners in scoring position, but Burnes got Brewers backstop William Contreras to ground out back to the mound to escape the threat.

Burnes, who pitched to Contreras last year, tagged his ex-teammate and gave him a hug as he ran down the line. As Burnes approached the dugout, he gave Rutschman a hug to signal a job well done.

“I’m glad I got him out,” Burnes said of Contreras. “He’s probably not too happy about it. But it’s always good to face old teammates and even better to get them out.”

Burnes often credits his success — an NL Cy Young Award, four straight All-Star appearances and now the first Oriole to start the All-Star Game since 1980 — to his meticulous and relentless routine. Flying into a city the morning of and out that night isn’t a part of that routine, but Burnes the dad wanted to spend as much of the break as he could with his family while also letting Burnes the pitcher start the Midsummer Classic for the first time.

He hesitated to pitch in the exhibition — his first for the AL — but his wife urged him to go.

“My wife always says, ‘You never know when it’s going to be your last, so you don’t want this one to be the last and not have been able to attend,’” Burnes said. “So from the get-go, she’s told me, ‘You’re going, you’re going, you’re going.’ … I’m glad I came, it’s a great experience. I guess she’s pretty smart, so I guess I better listen to my wife when she says something like that.”

Burnes, who is now a dad of three kids under 3 years old, said the best recent development with his twin girls, Charlotte and Harper, is that he can finally tell them apart.

“The first couple days you’re with ‘em you don’t really know, and then over the phone through FaceTime, it’s hard to tell,” he said. “My wife liked playing the guessing game and put pictures up and I’d have no clue.”

It wasn’t his cleanest inning, and in classic Burnes fashion he was critical of himself after the outing, but he was able to recognize the magnitude of pitching on the national stage.

“That was fun. I wish I wouldn’t have walked Shohei, but it was fun,” he said. “There’s really no words to express just the atmosphere and playing around the best players in the game. I told them to be ready, I’m going to let them put it in play. So they were ready out there, and fortunately, we got out of it with a scoreless inning.”

Rutschman, who combined with Burnes to form the first Baltimore battery to start the All-Star Game, said the atmosphere with his teammate was “fun and light-hearted.”

“Just felt right at home,” Rutschman said.

Burnes is the fifth Orioles pitcher to start an All-Star Game — this one a 5-3 win for the Junior Circuit. The only one to do it more than once is Jim Palmer, who did so four times in the 1970s.

The current Orioles ace is well aware of the company he now shares.

“There’s very few people that have gotten to start All-Star Games,” he said. “To join that group is special, and obviously there’s some pretty cool names that have been able to do it. Getting that opportunity to do that was awesome.”