Brice Matthews walked into Tuesday’s game carrying a rookie line that had hardly moved the needle:.136/.224/.273 with a 40% strikeout rate. He left it with three hits against the Orioles, including a fifth-inning home run off Shane Baz, a double off Andrew Kittredge and a single against Anthony Nunez.
The 24-year-old’s four plate appearances pushed his wRC+ from 40 to 82 in one night, a sharp jump for a player who had been scuffling through the opening stretch of his rookie season. The change was visible in the details as much as the box score: one drive left the bat at 109.7 mph and traveled 387 feet, while another hard contact chance came in at 77.7 mph with a.390 expected batting average, and a later swing produced an 84.8 mph single.
That matters because Matthews had been in need of something more than a clean inning or a lucky break. The source describing the game had him starting the 2026 season as one of baseball’s best relievers, but the night belonged to Matthews, who turned four trips to the plate into the kind of performance that can reset a season. A player who entered play as a punchless rookie suddenly looked like someone who might start turning contact into production.
The tension is that one game does not erase the larger line he carried into Tuesday, and it does not change how quickly pitchers can adjust once they see a hitter’s weaknesses. But it does give Matthews something he had been missing: a night that can be used as evidence, not hope, the next time he steps into the box.
