CLEARWATER, Fla. — Cade Povich picked right up where he left off.

The left-hander finished his rookie season with a dominant September in which he posted a 2.60 ERA in five starts. Making his first appearance of the spring Sunday, he set down six of seven Philadelphia Phillies to help Baltimore win, 7-3, for its first Grapefruit League victory of the year.

Povich was in command from the moment he stepped on the mound. He mowed down three Phillies regulars — Kyle Schwarber (groundout), Nick Castellanos (swinging strikeout) and Brandon Marsh (groundout) — in the first inning and worked around a fielding error by first baseman Emmanuel Rivera for a clean second.

“First game, plan out there is just to really not trying to overdo anything,” Povich said. “Just command the zone, work on pitch mix and it was great to see kind of a good mix of left and right[-handed opponents] today.”

He took an aggressive approach with his fastball, throwing the four-seamer early in counts and generating whiffs on three of the Phillies’ eight swings at the pitch. Fifteen of his 26 pitches went for strikes and his fastball averaged 92.4 mph, just below his average velocity from 2024.

“I think it’s definitely easy to, right now early on in front of a crowd first time, to try and amp up and do a little too much,” Povich said. “So, that’s why the focus today for me really was just to kind of take it easy, command and not really to overdo anything.”

Not to be outdone was right-hander Brandon Young, Povich’s teammate at Triple-A Norfolk last season who won the Orioles’ minor league pitcher of the year award. Young scattered two hits over three scoreless innings, averaging 95 mph with his fastball and maxing out at 97.

He focused primarily on throwing four-seamers, cutters and curveballs but also mixed in a couple of breaking pitches he’s been tinkering with in camp.

“High velo, good secondary stuff, a lot of strikes,” Hyde said after the game of what he saw from Young. “First time I’ve really seen him throw in a game either so I liked the tempo. Everything was really good.”

Both Povich and Young would likely need an injury or two in the rotation to break camp with the team, but they will represent two of the Orioles’ top starting pitcher options in Norfolk once they do need to start digging into their depth.

First look at the full package

Samuel Basallo got his first taste of major league spring training last year when the Orioles invited him to camp as a 19-year-old. However, he was limited to a designated hitter role after fracturing his throwing elbow over the offseason.

Now healthy, Basallo gave the Orioles’ coaching staff its first look at him behind the plate on Sunday. He caught Povich, Young and nonroster invitee Rodolfo Martinez over the first five innings and went 1-for-3 with a single at the plate.

“I think he’s handled guys really well,” manager Brandon Hyde said before the game. “Saw him catch a live [batting practice] yesterday. I was impressed with how he received for the size he is, how agile he is. He’s really athletic, but the size and the arm strength is what you notice right away.”

Without having to go through injury rehabilitation this time around, Basallo has been able to focus more on making improvements and he’s left a strong impression on coaches and teammates alike for his maturity, defensive work and loud batting practices.

“I feel like last spring I faced a lot of limitations not being able to work on everything and this spring I feel like I’ve been able to focus a lot more on my defense, a lot more on those specific details,” Basallo said through team interpreter Brandon Quinones.

“I’m learning a lot. I feel like I’ve been able to mature a lot [by] being able to look at the game a different way this spring, and I think it also helps that I’ve been able to hit and play defense as well.”

Basallo also got the distinction of being the first Oriole to test out the automated ball-strike (ABS) system this spring, challenging a called ball by Young against Kyle Schwarber in the sixth. The system found that the ball clipped the bottom of the zone and the call was overturned. Home plate umpire Vic Carapazza was also using ABS for the first time and ran into technical issues when his microphone stopped working.

Around the horn

Closer Félix Bautista threw his first live bullpen session back at the Orioles’ facility in Sarasota on Sunday morning. It was a significant step in his recovery and a strong sign that he’ll be able to progress to pitching in Grapefruit League games in the coming weeks.

Right-hander Charlie Morton is scheduled to make his first start of the spring on Tuesday against the Detroit Tigers. A rainy forecast for Monday could disrupt those plans, however. Dean Kremer is scheduled to start Monday and Hyde said the team hasn’t decided if it will push him back or have him pitch in some form of a simulated game.

Outfielder Colton Cowser was hit by two pitches Sunday, one in the thigh in the first inning and another off his arm later in the game. The culprit on the second pitch was former Orioles reliever Nick Vespi, who signed a minor league deal with Philadelphia this offseason.

The Orioles’ biggest standout in the box score was infielder Vimael Machín, a nonroster invitee who had three hits and two RBIs including a solo home run in the second to finish a triple shy of the cycle. Machín signed with Baltimore this winter after posting an impressive .959 OPS between the Mexican and Puerto Rican leagues.

Martinez, an early camp standout, flashed some of the velocity that impressed coaches in live bullpen sessions but struggled with his command and served up a deep home run to third baseman Christian Arroyo. Right-hander Dylan Coleman was responsible for the Phillies’ other two runs, giving up a two-run homer to outfielder Gabriel Rincones Jr. in the eighth.

Have a news tip? Contact Matt Weyrich at mweyrich@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/ByMattWeyrichand instagram.com/bymattweyrich.