against the competition, losing three of his four starts and posting a 6.16 earned run average (ERA) before the Orioles reassigned him to the Fox Cities Foxes of the Class B Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League. At Fox Cities, McNally still had a losing record (8–10) but his ERA dropped to 4.18 in 25 games. With the Class A Elmira Pioneers of the Eastern League in 1962, McNally was the team's best player. He tied with Wilbur Wood and Sonny Siebert for second in the league with 15 wins (behind Paul Seitz, who had 16), ranked second with 195 strikeouts (behind Bob Heffner with 234), tied John Pregenzer for eighth with 196 innings pitched, tied Bill Hands and Pregenzer for third with four shutouts (behind Steve Dalkowski with six and Richard Slomkowski with five), and had a 3.08 ERA. Major league career Baltimore Orioles (1962–74) Cementing a spot in the Major Leagues (1962–65) Following his season with Elmira, McNally was a September callup by the Orioles in 1962; he got one start with the team. On September 26, he pitched the first game of a doubleheader against the Kansas City Athletics. "I was scared to death," McNally later recalled, but he threw a shutout, limiting the Athletics to two hits in nine innings. In an interview prior to the start of the 1963 season, Baltimore manager Billy Hitchcock listed McNally among a group of prospects that could provide "whatever else is needed" for Baltimore's pitching staff. An injury to Dalkowski helped McNally make the team as a left-handed reliever. After one game out of the bullpen, he made an emergency start for an injured Chuck Estrada on April 20, limiting the Cleveland Indians to one run in a complete game, 7–1 victory. He won his first two starts, but after giving up seven runs and five runs in his next two, respectively, he was moved back to the bullpen, where he was used as a reliever through the beginning of June. Then, Estrada was placed on the disabled list on June 8 due to a bone spur and calcium deposits in his elbow. McNally replaced him in the rotation on June 12 and was used as a starter the rest of the year. He took a no decision on June 12 but held the New York Yankees to two runs (one earned) over innings in a 3–2 loss. On August 22, he threw