Another weird week of baseball, but we still managed to finish over .500. While there were plenty of shaky moments, the team as a whole got things together more often than not to keep pace with the Rays in the early hunt for the AL East pennant. Feels like we're really scratching the surface of something great, just a few pieces away. Let's see how Elias assembles them.
In the meantime...
Record since Last Orioles Report: 3-2
Overall Record: 37-22
Last Two vs. Cleveland
Nice bounce back by the O's in the middle game of this three game series vs. Cleveland. The boys jumped all over Cal Quantrill early, building a 7-0 lead by the end of the second. Gunnar Henderson's two RBI double and Santander's bases clearing triple contributed to that quick rally out the gate. Kyle Gibson was steady per usual, allowing just three runs in 5.2. Things got a little interesting late after the Guardians posted back to back two-run innings, but Yennier Cano and Felix slammed the door in the final 2.1 innings, clinching an 8-5 victory.
Leading up to as frustrating a rubber match as you'll encounter... The offense shelled opposing ace Shane Bieber, to the tune of eight hits and seven earned runs in four innings of work, but the pitching was an absolute disaster. Keegan Akin set the tone for it early, allowing a run and two hits during his sole inning on the bump as the starter. Austin Voth than gave up three earned, followed by Cionel Perez (2 ER), Mychal Givens (3 ER + no outs recorded) and Michael Baumann (3 ER...). Calling it a meltdown would be more of a compliment than the reality. You should never lose when you score eight runs. Very bad 12-8 loss at home against the worst offense in all of baseball coming into the week.
Three out in San Fran
The Birds had a perfectly timed day off before a trip out to San Francisco for three. Dean Kremer kicked things off for game one, managing to stumble through six innings while only giving up two earned runs. It's not always pretty, but Dean has been consistently effective for this team majority of the season. The game was tied at two in the seventh when Gunnar Henderson hit a 410 foot solo bomb to right field. It ended up being the difference, setting up Felix for his fifteenth save on the season.
Saturday was Alex Cobb's day...what a miserable thing to have to stomach, watching the former overpaid, Orioles "ace" dial in a seven inning, seven strikeout shut out over us. The offense only mustered five hits, and Gunnar left the game with back discomfort... Ugly. It was nice seeing Bruce Zimmermann finish the game off with two scoreless innings though in his first action back up with the big league club.
Wrapping the series up with a Sunday matchup where Tyler Wells was masterful. He set a career high in strike outs with nine in just 5.1, dominating the Giants lineup outside of one bad pitch to Blake Sabol. Josh Lester delivered his first career hit and RBI, helping blow things open in the third with a rip to the gap that, with the help of a throwing air, ultimately cleared the bases. Awesome moment to witness for a guy who'd been grinding down on the minor league circuit for 7+ seasons.
Smooth sailing out on the Bay, Baltimore wins 8-3 to take the game and series.
Farm Report
-Jordan Westburg is up to 15 home runs for Norfolk while still boasting a .308 average. A move up could be imminent any day
-Speaking of promotions...Colton Cowser is back off the injured list and back to form, going 4-5 with a home run, three RBI and two walks in his two games of action
-Lewin Diaz continued his productive streak as well, going 6-23 on the week with two homers, six RBI and just one strikeout
-Nick Vespi's call up may also be on the horizon. Dude's 2-0 with a 1.77 ERA, seven saves, and 21 strikeouts in 20.1 innings of work
-Props to Heston Kjerstad for finally receiving his promotion up to Norfolk. The dude ripped .346 with a long ball and two RBI during his final week with the Baysox, collecting hits in all six games
-Ten of the twelve outs recorded by Carlos Tavera last Thursday came via K
-Garrett Stallings had a nice week for Bowie, going nine innings and striking out ten while allowing three ER and six hits
-Aberdeen's arms were on this week, only allowing eight total runs in the first five games of this series. Alex Pham and Jake Lyons combined for a shutout Tuesday night, only to have Jean Pinto, Dan Hammer, Ignacio Feliz and Graham Firoved pull off the same feat just two nights later
-Creed Willems has arrived Ironbirds' fans, hitting a three run bomb in his first at bat on the High-A level
-Dylan Beavers hit his third home run of the year in unlikely fashion. Really is amazing he didn't fall until reaching home
-Really rough week down in Delmarva, going 1-6 against the Fredericksburg Nationals. The offense is really struggling without Creed Willems and Jackson Holliday's contributions
-Another solid start for Bradley Brehmer Sunday, allowing two runs through five with three strike outs and no walks
Concluding Thoughts
When watching the home games or glancing through the post game box scores, it's hard not to notice the below average attendance at OPACY. In past years, you wouldn't hear me complaining about this, but this team's had the second best record in baseball for some recent stretches of time here. They're young, they're fun and Camden Yards should be much more than 20-25% capacity for some of these games. We have to do better O's fans.
I'm torn on the Grayson demotion, because he's clearly not worse than many of the other arms we're trotting out to the mound. But at the same time, we want him as a starter and not a long reliever, so the extra work in Norfolk is seemingly essential. It's just growing increasingly frustrating watching some of our bullpen's recent struggles while sending superior talents down. As of right now though, I get it.
In that same vein of projected starters, I'm curious of DL Hall's standing within the organization. He gave up eleven earned runs in 18.2 innings during the month of May. He also struck out twenty five during that span. A brilliant prospect leaving us desperate for consistency, with ups and downs like peaks and valleys. Could he be included in a deadline transaction for a new start somewhere else?
Brewers and Royals on deck this next week! 4-2 should be the expectation, let's see if the boys can live up to it.
------
@Choppinglines
*I own no rights to any images found in this blog
Comments
Post a Comment