he made his mlb debut for the baltimore orioles on april 17, 2002. he played for the orioles in 2002 but suffered an elbow ligament injury that forced him to have operations on it and set his development back 18 months. after he spent most of the 2003 season in rehab, he returned to baseball. on july 7, he struck out 15 texas rangers, which matched the orioles franchise record that was set by mike mussina. his 15 strikeouts also set the record for the most in a game by a canadian player. he earned the american league pitcher of the month award in that month.