BALTIMORE -- Wade Miley was anxious to take the mound on Sunday, joking that he felt cheated because Opening Day starter Kevin Gausman had already pitched twice before the lefty made his debut.
Perhaps it was the colder weather or working out the early-season kinks. Either way, Miley, who got a no-decision, knows he will have to be better than he was in Sunday's 7-3 loss to New York.
The lefty threw five scoreless frames, yes. But he tied a career-high with seven walks and chided himself later for it as a previously-perfect Orioles bullpen finally gave out.
"Lucky, Houdini, I don't know. It was pretty weird," Miley said of his start. "Two or three hitters in a row I'd have zero command and then for whatever reason I'd lock it in and make some pitches, I guess, when I needed to. Definitely a weird outing. Fastball command was all over the place. Breaking ball could never really throw for strikes, wasn't getting swings on that. So just kind of living off of the fastball. Fortunate enough to make some pitches when I need them I guess."

The 30-year-old Miley said starting the season on the disabled list (due to illness) wasn't a factor in Sunday's performance.
The lefty, who is in a contract year, went 2-5 with a 6.17 ERA in 11 games for the Orioles last year after a midseason trade from the Mariners. This was the first time in his career that he went through a Spring Training with the same team he ended the season with, and Miley is hoping he can get back to the form that saw him go 1-0 with a 1.93 ERA over his last three outings in 2016.

"Definitely was off, definitely need to be making some adjustments," Miley said. "Probably not going to be very successful living on the edge like that throughout a full season, but was able to get out of some jams and keep it down."
Added manager Buck Showalter: "It's uncharacteristic of Wade, but a tribute to him he came out of the game [with the score] 3-0. I'll take that."