bédard made his major league debut on april 17, 2002, for the orioles against the new york yankees. he entered the game in the bottom of the eighth and allowed a single to the first batter he faced (jason giambi) before retiring jorge posada on a pop fly and striking out robin ventura swinging before he was replaced by another reliever. he also appeared in a game on april 21 against the tampa bay devil rays and allowed an rbi single to the only batter he faced (ben grieve). he was optioned to the double-a bowie baysox two days later and pitched in 13 games for them, including 12 starts, with a 6–3 record and a 1.97 era. he was named the eastern league's best pitching prospect by "baseball america". however, bédard left his start on june 26 with pain in his left elbow and would undergo "tommy john" ligament replacement surgery on september 10.