Orioles rookie right-hander Brad Bergesen has gone from Opening Day starter at Triple-A Norfolk to the big league rotation's most consistent starting pitcher in two months.
"I said in spring training, I thought he could have made the club. Probably was one of our better pitchers in the spring," Orioles manager Dave Trembley said. "We felt he had to go down and work on his changeup, work on his breaking ball a little bit and work on a little bit better pitch selection against left-handed hitters.
"I've just seen the guy make a lot of progress in spring training and when he came here. He's not a thrower, he's a pitcher."
In his 11th Orioles start, Bergesen threw his first major league complete game Sunday, limiting the Atlanta Braves to two runs on five hits and two walks in the Orioles' 11-2 win. He struck out three, including the final two batters of the game.
"I didn't know where my pitch count was at; I never look at it out there," said Bergesen, who threw eight pitches in the first and 112 for the game. "When I came in after the eighth inning, [neither] Dave Trembley nor Rick Kranitz said anything to me, so I knew I'd be going back out there for the ninth."
Bergesen (4-2, 3.79 ERA) made only two mistakes, solo homers to catcher David Ross. The first, in the seventh, broke Bergesen's 18-inning scoreless streak. In each of his past four starts, he has allowed two runs or fewer in seven innings or more. He gives credit to Kranitz, who has been working with him to keep his arm angle up, which gives him more deception and adds more movement to his pitches.
Bergesen, the organization's 2008 minor league Pitcher of the Year, had six complete games in the minors.
"There is a huge difference," Bergesen said. "It was a great feeling today to get the complete game."
Bass on a roll
By throwing three scoreless innings Saturday night, long reliever Brian Bass picked up his fourth win of the season, tying for the team lead. He is 3-0 with a 1.17 ERA in his past 23 innings.
"He seems like he always comes into games where it's kind of been lethargic," Trembley said. "Games are teetering to get away from us, [and he] gets the game back in order, gets the momentum back on our side by throwing strikes, by working fast, by getting ground balls. He does a tremendous job as the long man."
Bass, 27, was primarily a starter in the minors and started four games for the Orioles last year, but Trembley said there is no temptation to insert him into the rotation.
