FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- In the midst of his fifth spring training, Orioles left-hander Adam Loewen sometimes still feels like a rookie. Yesterday, in his first game action in about 10 months, he pitched like one, too.
More than eight months after having a screw inserted in his left elbow to help heal a stress fracture, Loewen stepped back on the mound, and the rust was evident. Rushing his delivery and failing to get the ball down in the strike zone, Loewen walked four of the seven batters he faced and left the game without getting an out in the second inning.
But the silver lining of the Orioles' 16-3 defeat at the hands of the Florida Marlins was that Loewen, the 23-year-old who is being counted on to be one of the anchors of the Orioles' staff, walked off the mound feeling no pain in his surgically repaired left elbow.
"It was really good just to get out there in front of the fans," Loewen said. "It feels a lot different than throwing a simulated game or a bullpen. That's what I needed to feel. The next time's going to be better."
Loewen was removed from the Orioles' exhibition opener at Fort Lauderdale Stadium after walking three straight Marlins to load the bases in the second inning. Ten of his last 11 pitches were balls. Overall, he missed the strike zone on 23 of his 39 pitches and went to three-ball counts on five of the seven hitters he faced. He didn't give up a hit, he struck out two and his line included three earned runs.
"He wasn't good at all from the very beginning, but the positive point was he got out there and felt OK when he was done," Orioles manager Dave Trembley said. "He's one of those guys we're counting on to take the ball every fifth day. It certainly would help our cause, since we're trying to re-establish ourselves with good starting pitching. He figures to be a key guy in that role."
Loewen was 2-0 with a 3.20 ERA after five starts last season. But in his sixth start, against the Detroit Tigers, the pain in his elbow became too much to bear and he was forced to exit the game. His injury was later diagnosed as a stress fracture, and his return from surgery is one of the Orioles' biggest issues in camp.
Loewen has said he has had no pain in his elbow in several months, but there was still some concern from Orioles officials before his start. A couple of hours before the game, club president Andy MacPhail acknowledged he would be holding his breath through Loewen's outing.
Catcher Ramon Hernandez said Loewen didn't show any signs of nerves in his bullpen session before the first pitch, but it became clear from the first batter he faced - he walked Hanley Ramirez after missing badly on a 3-2 pitch - that he couldn't find the strike zone. Hernandez did say he saw no discernible difference in Loewen's velocity from last season.
"He just was overthrowing," said Hernandez, who said he wasn't concerned with Loewen's struggles. "It was the first time since he got hurt, and I guess he had a lot of energy, was trying to do too good, trying to impress people that he's back. We know he's back. He's pitching. The only way you are going to feel OK is to keep pitching. He'll start feeling better and get back to where he was when he left."
Loewen came unglued in the second inning, managing to throw just four of 16 pitches for strikes. Most of his offerings were high.
The Orioles had hoped Loewen would go two innings, but his pitch count was high enough for Trembley, who removed the left-hander with the bases loaded and no outs.
"You've got to slow things down instead of speeding them up, and that's kind of what I did in the second inning," said Loewen, who maintained nerves had nothing to do with his struggles. "I kept on missing in that one spot up in the strike zone, and it's really an easy thing to fix. The more and more I throw, it will be easier to fix every time."
Pitching coach Rick Kranitz also said he wasn't concerned by the pitcher's struggles.
"He'll get it together. It's been close to a year, and I thought his stuff was real good," Kranitz said. "It was a big positive."
About a half-hour after he finished his conditioning work, Loewen had already put the outing behind him.
"I'm looking forward to the next one," Loewen said. "Four days seems like a long time, but it really goes by like that. I'm just happy to be playing again with my teammates and feel like I'm a part of the team. I had fun."
jeff.zrebiec@baltsun.com