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Miller was called upon to protect a three-run lead in the final frame and wound up working around a leadoff walk to Iván Herrera by striking out Masyn Winn, coaxing a harmless fly out from Alec Burleson and whiffing Brendan Donovan to preserve the victory. The hard-throwing 25-year-old righty, who touched triple digits 12 times in this outing, has quickly blossomed into one of the most exciting pitchers in the game. There’s a chance he’s already an elite fantasy closer. He’s converted all four of his save opportunities this season to go along with a 17/4 K/BB ratio across nine innings (seven appearances).

Alonso victimized Connor Pilkington in the third inning of this one, blasting a 1-2 slider for a 411-foot (107.7 mph EV) solo shot that gave the Orioles a 3-2 advantage. He grounded out to shortstop in his other plate appearance in the ballgame. The 31-year-old slugger once again batted second for the Orioles in this one, and it appears as though that could be his primary spot in the order to begin the 2026 campaign.

Kjerstad opened the scoring in the contest, belting a full-count slider from Jack Flaherty for a 399-foot (100.5 mph EV) solo shot that got the Orioles on the board in the top half of the first inning. The 27-year-old outfielder also grounded out twice, finishing the afternoon 1-for-3. With a strong showing in Grapefruit League play, Kjerstad has a chance to earn regular playing time in the Orioles’ lineup to start the 2026 campaign, which would make him an intriguing late-round option for fantasy purposes.

Bradish made quick work of the Tigers in the opening inning, needing just 10 pitches to get three straight ground ball outs. He then gave up a leadoff double to Spencer Torkelson in the second, walked Wenceel Perez and gave up a single to Zach McKinstry to load the bases. He battled back to strike out Hao-Yu Lee, but Max Anderson followed with a two-run single. Bradish then punched out Tomas Nido and got Parker Meadows on a liner to short to end his day. Overall, Bradish threw 22 of his 35 pitches for strikes, getting two swings and misses.

Anderson strolled to the dish against Orioles’ ace Kyle Bradish with the bases loaded and one out in the second inning. He jumped on a first-pitch sinker, smacking a hard ground ball single (99.8 mph EV) into center that plated two runs and pulled the Tigers even at 2-2. The 23-year-old infielder bounced back to the pitcher in his only other plate appearance. While Kevin McGonigle gets all of the hype, Anderson is knocking on the door of the big leagues as well and should make his big league debut at some point during the 2026 campaign.

Slater ambushed a first-pitch fastball from Brandon Young in the third inning, smacking a 327-foot (93.6 mph EV) solo shot that tied the game at 3-3. That would be his only hit in three trips to the plate. The 33-year-old outfielder is in camp competing for a bench spot on the Tigers’ Opening Day roster and he at least made a good first impression on Sunday.

The 30-year-old right-hander struck out one (Colton Cowser) and didn’t walk a batter. The lone hit that he allowed was a two-out solo homer by Heston Kjerstad. What’s exciting to take away is that Flaherty exhibited increased velocity on all of his pitches, with his fastball averaging 93.7 mph (+0.8 mph) and his slider sitting at 93.7 mph (+2.2 mph). Of course it was only one inning of work, so it needs to be taken with a grain of salt, but it’s something to monitor as the spring progresses.

Valdez’s slam off Jack Dallas was a 361-foot, opposite-field liner that left his bat at 106.7 mph. An intriguing outfield prospect, Valdez was added to the Pirates’ 40-man roster in November after hitting .286/.376/.520 between High-A and Double-A last year. He’ll likely return to Double-A to open this year, and his chances of getting a look in the second half could hinge on the performance of Jhostynxon Garcia, a rather similar prospect who is clearly ahead of him on the depth chart at this point.

Kyle Schwarber homered off him in the first, but none of the remaining three hits Ashcraft allowed did any damage. After finishing with a 2.78 ERA in eight starts and 18 relief appearances last season, Ashcraft is in strong position to claim a spot in the Pirates rotation this spring. He gets enough strikeouts and grounders to potentially be of some use in mixed leagues.

Griffin, widely viewed as the game’s No. 1 prospect, had a weak groundout in his first at-bat, but his remaining two balls in play were a 105.6-mph, 397-foot fly to center and a 109.1-mph lineout to right field. Griffin will likely need a pretty spectacular spring to make the Pirates. This won’t help the statline, but it was a good day for the 19-year-old.

Schwarber’s homer off Braxton Ashcraft was a no-doubter launched 438 feet to right. Ashcraft’s mistake was not sticking with his strategy from 2025; he intentionally walked Schwarber the one time the two were set to face off last season.