Six pitches into Monday’s start in Baltimore, it looked like it might be another rocky outing for young Will Warren as he allowed a single and a double to give the Orioles an instant scoring chance.

The 25-year-old, facing a Baltimore offense mired in a horrendous slump with runners in scoring position (6-for-60), needed just 13 pitches to escape with no damage, getting a pair of swinging strikeouts.

“I thought Will had really good stuff tonight,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I thought his changeup was good. I thought his fastball had as good life as we’ve seen.”

The starter tallied five strikeouts and got 23 called strikes and whiffs on 72 pitches (the changeup was responsible for five whiffs on 10 swings), but was pulled with one out in the fourth inning after allowing four runs on five hits (three for extra bases) with two costly walks in the 4-3 loss to the Orioles.

As is the case with the start of his season, there was some good and some bad as his ERA rose to 5.63 through six outings.

“A mistake there around some walks that obviously ended up hurting,” Boone said, referring to the Orioles’ lone hit with a runner in scoring position on the night: Ryan O’Hearn’s third-inning three-run home run.

“I’m never trying to start off the inning with back-to-back walks,” Warren said of the only free passes he surrendered on the night to start the frame. “And then obviously, O’Hearn did the damage on a pitch that didn’t get quite in. So yeah, it sucks.”

Warren didn’t regret the 2-2 sweeper to the left-handed hitter: “I think I need to be a little farther in, and the outcome’s probably different. Just gotta execute pitches.”

While Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman are both struggling through the season's opening weeks, the two took several close pitches and worked walks on 3-2 pitches. “That’s a tough part of the order, obviously,” Boone said.

“I think at the end of the day, you just gotta force them to put the ball in play,” Warren said.

The righty classified his first month as up and down with some good outings mixed in with some he wished he had back, like a start in Tampa that lasted just 1.2 innings. “I think overall it’s just about attacking in the zone.”

Boone said he felt like Warren’s command “has been there” and “some games it’s really been excellent.”

“He’s faced some tough lineups,” the manager said. “Cleveland threw all those lefties at him, [and Baltimore] is a tough left-handed lineup that’s tough on right-handed pitching.”

Despite Warren continuing to ride the roller coaster early this year, Boone did take some positives from the latest time out.

“Even though it’s only three-plus [innings] and he gives up the homer, there’s a lot of good in there,” he said. Some really good fastballs, some really good changeups. Got some big outs.”

“But again, the two walks in that part of the order where you’re in the danger zone, and then a mistake. Hopefully continues to grow from it.”

A costly misplay

Warren had some tough luck with two outs in the second inning when Ramón Laureano drove a ball that went over Trent Grisham’s head to give the Orioles a 1-0 lead. It went for a double, but the center fielder got a terrible jump and was twisted around by the 380-foot liner that had a 95 percent catch probability, per Statcast.

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