Hours before first pitch, manager Craig Albernaz compared Kyle Bradish to a video game. When the right-hander is on, Albernaz said, it looks as easy as pushing buttons on “MLB The Show,” the way he carves through a lineup.

Bradish wasn’t quite there yet. In the Orioles’ 4-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Saturday, Bradish had his bright moments but his command wasn’t as exact, his velocity not as steady, as those video game re-creations.

The occasional impression Bradish exhibited isn’t exactly a surprise. It was a chilly March day at Camden Yards. And, although Bradish is fully healthy (he returned near the end of last season after elbow surgery), he likely isn’t as fully built up as he’d like to be.

In the end, a leadoff walk and a home run in the fifth cost Bradish in his first appearance this season. With an offense that struggled to provide the key knock against the Twins, that two-batter sequence was what Bradish’s outing came down to.

“Bradish looked good early,” Albernaz said. “Looked like when he went back out, velo was down a tick, command started going a little bit. ... Next outing he’ll be better and stronger lasting.”

Bradish allowed the tying run in the fourth mostly because of Byron Buxton’s speed. The Twins center fielder beat out an infield single, then he reached third on an error when catcher Adley Rutschman attempted a back-pick at second.

Then, to open the fifth, Trevor Larnach walked and Royce Lewis cranked a two-run shot to left against a sinker that didn’t have as much life as earlier in the game.

“At the end of the day, I execute one pitch and it’s a different ballgame,” Bradish said.

Bradish’s velocity declined throughout — perhaps due to the cold. His sinker hummed in at an average of 94.5 mph in the first inning. By the fifth, Bradish was averaging 91.6 mph on that pitch.

“I think, when it gets later on in the season, velocity will stay the same,” Bradish said. “I don’t want to make an excuse for the cold weather, but, yeah, I think we’ll see the velocity stay in the mid-90s as we get moving.”

By the time he walked off the mound with two outs in the fifth, Bradish had thrown 83 pitches. He allowed only two hits but walked three batters, one of whom scored on Lewis’ homer. In all, it was a fine, if un-video-gamelike, first outing.

If any pitcher had the physics-defying stuff of a video game, it was right-hander Anthony Nunez, who made his major league debut for the Orioles. The 24-year-old, who used to be a position player in college before converting fully to pitching, struck out three batters in two scoreless innings.

“It’s a dream come true,” Nunez said. “I’m excited to be able to showcase that to the world and give God all the glory while I’m out there, be the best version of myself.”

The brilliant debut for Nunez came as no surprise to outfielder Dylan Beavers, who watched him pitch for Triple-A Norfolk last year.

“The first time I saw him, I knew he’s got really good stuff, attacks the zone,” Beavers said. “He’s phenomenal.”

The rest of the game might’ve been better had Bradish received more offensive support.

The sample is too small and the seasons too far apart to directly link Baltimore’s woes with runners in scoring position in 2025 to 2026. After all, a two-out knock from Blaze Alexander on Thursday helped the Orioles beat the Twins on opening day. But the lack of a timely hit Saturday was magnified because Baltimore stranded the bases loaded twice.

“It’s early in the year,” said Albernaz, who noted the Orioles — who struck out 16 times — missed elevated off-speed pitches they might recognize more easily later in the season. “I believe our guys would be on time for those and make the adjustment, but I like our at-bats up and down.”

In the first inning, Beavers’ strikeout spelled the end of a two-out rally against right-hander Taj Bradley. Jeremiah Jackson came through in the second with an RBI single after Colton Cowser doubled, but the Orioles didn’t add on when they had runners in scoring position in the fifth and sixth innings.

Albernaz showed his openness for midgame adjustments in the sixth, as he tried to jump-start the offense. He popped two pinch hitters — Tyler O’Neill for Beavers and Ryan Mountcastle for Cowser — and Mountcastle’s two-out single began another rally. Jackson singled a second time, and Taylor Ward walked, which brought Gunnar Henderson to the plate with the bases loaded.

It ended with Henderson spiking his bat in the dirt along the first base line once his fly ball was caught in right field.

“I want that fire,” Albernaz said. “He’s an emotional player. I love the emotion. He’s a competitor.”

To make too much of the second game of the season would be a mistake — the Orioles will play another 160 of these, after all. But there was an elevated number of strikeouts, particularly from top-of-the-order hitters, and the Orioles left 11 runners on base.

This article has been updated.