Orioles Report 8/22

 


30 games over .500. What more can you say? The pitching has gone from overachieving to just plain pretty good. The offense is inconsistent at times, but explosive when it all clicks. They have depth and can pounce on advantageous matchups, plus a manager who's shown he'll go against the grain to put his guys in those positions. 

This is a true team that's starting to really figure out this whole league dominance thing. And reinforcements are on the way...brings a tear to the eye. Let's look back at the last week.


Record since Last Orioles Report: 3-2

Overall Record: 77-47


Final Two in San Diego

The momentum from a fast start to this series was quickly cooled in game two, as the Padres jumped ahead 5-0, courtesy of an RBI base on balls and Gary Sanchez grand slam. Not what we were looking for Jack Flaherty. He'd give up two more in the second before getting pulled after three, putting the bullpen in a precarious spot to eat more innings than Brandon Hyde would prefer.

Nick Vespi gave up three runs in the fifth, allowing the lead to build to 10. Cedric Mullins and Gunnar Henderson would hit RBI singles and Austin Hays would hit a solo home run to at least spare Baltimore the shut out, but this was a gross display Tuesday night. 10-3 loss.

Blake Snell had the Orioles number in the rubber match, allowing just two earned and three hits in six innings work. Anthony Santander brought in one of those runs with a sac fly, while Ryan Mountcastle added the other with a solo bomb. Dean Kremer did his best to keep up, allowing three runs over the same span, but the offense couldn't pick him up late. To make matters worse, Cionel Perez embarrassingly let Fernando Tatis Jr. steal home in the seventh... Tough 5-2 loss against an inferior opponent.


Three at the Coliseum

Kyle Gibson on the bump to kick off a three game set in Oakland, and it was a rocky one. Four runs on nine hits against far and away the worst offense in the league isn't a good look, no matter how you spin it. 

Luckily for the veteran righty, the bats showed up in droves for the Birds. Mountcastle knocked one in on a single in the first, followed by a two RBI double by Cedric Mullins to put them ahead 3-0 before the A's even got to the plate. Gunnar added a two run dinger the next inning and they never looked back. He'd add an RBI single later in the game, along with Jordan Westburg delivering a sac fly and RBI one bagger of his own. Adam Frazier tacked on one more with a double, and that's how you get to nine runs. Started things off right in the Bay Area, 9-4 Baltimore.

Cole Irvin's been really good these last few starts, and Saturday was much of the same. You really couldn't realistically ask for much better than five innings and one earned run against his former club, which is exactly what the lefty gave Brandon Hyde and Co. 

Photo: Rob Carr/ Getty Images

Unfortunately, this Shintaro Fujinami experiment has continued to falter in high leverage situations. Also against his former team, Fuji allowed an Aledmys Diaz solo shot to knot things up with one out in the sixth. When he's on, he's got some of the filthiest stuff in the league...problem is that he's throwing 103 MPH batting practice when he misses, and opponents are hitting it very hard. We don't have a ton of other viable arms in the pen, so he's going to get his chance to figure it out, but it's been frustrating thus far.

Regardless! To extras we were forced to go at two apiece. A few productive outs by Jordan Westburg and Austin Hays put the Orioles ahead 5-2 before James McCann's two run single put it out of reach for Oakland. Stressful 7-2 win in 10.

A Sunday matinee by the Bay and the Birds pooped all over the Athletics. Gunnar Henderson could've hit for the cycle, but chose to pursue a second double in the eighth inning on a rocket down the first base line. He has to be the AL Rookie of the Year at this point. Ryan Mountcastle went yard and Jorge Mateo hit a sweet inside the parker on a ball that caromed like 50 feet off the left center fence between two over-pursuing outfielders. 

Kyle Bradish was incredible once again, posting six shutout frames and eight strikeouts along the way. He's currently matching Gerritt Cole for the top ERA in the American League...who saw that coming? What a season the man's having, improving to 8-6 after this massacre. 

12-1 O's, break out the brooms!


Farm Report

-Not often we write about opposing team's prospects in this section, but shoutout to two former Birds Cesar Prieto and Drew Rom. Now part of the St. Louis organization, Prieto went 7-17 with an RBI on the series, while Rom was dialed in his his Tuesday night start; pitching six scoreless with eight strikeouts and just one hit allowed 

-Chayce McDermott did his best to match his former teammate, giving up just one earned of his own over five, along with seven K's. Unfortunately for the Tides, that one run was all the Redbirds would need in a 5-0 win

-Encouraging to see three multi-hit games from Coby Mayo. If he can boost his batting average to combine with his elite eye and above average power, he could be a true force at the major league level. Colton Cowser had a nice week too, ripping .350/2/5 + five walks in his return to Norfolk. Don't expect this to be a long tune up for him

-Another nice series for Dylan Beavers, collecting a hit in each of the five games he made an appearance, good for eight in total, plus eight runs scored

-Silas Ardoin also contributed eight hits for the Baysox, needing just four games to match Beavers. Admittedly a small sample, but his .364 average since getting called up has been nice to see

-Brandon Young finally made his way back to Bowie, announcing his return with a bang Friday night. The righty allowed five hits in five shutout innings

Photo: Bowie Baysox

-Elio Prado had a strong week against Wilmington, raising his High A average nearly 50 points after a ten hit week. Half went for extra bases

-Creed Willems and Trendon Craig walked it off for the Ironbirds on consecutive nights Friday and Saturday, each on singles

-Yaqui Rivera had his best appearance since coming up to Aberdeen a month ago, going a scoreless, hitless 3.1 with two walks and five strikeouts

-Lots of pitching in this Shorebirds segment. Luis de Leon allowed two hits, two walks and one unearned run over four. His ERA's down to a pristine 0.95 with a .123 BAA at Class A

-LSU's Blake Money made his Delmarva debut Friday, giving up one hit and striking out three in two scoreless innings of relief work

-Edgar Portes was shutdown on Sunday afternoon, punching out eight through four frames of shutout, one hit ball


Concluding Thoughts

The end of the San Diego series was disappointing, but we really buried an inferior opponent in Oakland to quickly get back on our feet. That's what dominant teams need to do in the midst of a pennant race, still sitting three games ahead of Tampa Bay.

Tyler Wells looked good in his relief appearance for Bowie, John Means was a bit bumpier. DL Hall has been pretty strong for Norfolk too. I'm very curious to see how those three factor into our bullpen over the next month and a half-- suddenly could be a surplus of options for Mike Elias and Brandon Hyde, with an odd man or two left out.

Hosting Toronto for a trio before wrapping up the homestand with six against the terrible Rockies and White Sox. No reason to not build upon our AL East lead. I'll be at Camden Friday night for the Colorado game too, so if you're going to be there too, reach out and we can grab a beer!


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@Choppinglines

*I own no rights to any images found in this blog


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