David Fulmer- Flickr
After the first loss of the second half of the season to the Oakland Athletics, it looked as though the 10-game road trip for the Baltimore Orioles was going to be a bumpy one. However, with the Orioles’ 3-2 win over the Seattle Mariners on Sunday, the O’s finished 6-4 on the trip and turned many skeptics into believers that this is the team to beat in the A.L. East.
The trip started off in Oakland, and on the first night, Josh Donaldson stole the win from the Orioles with a first pitch Walk-Off home run against Orioles’ closer Zach Britton. The O’s would bounce back in the second game, winning 8-4, but would drop the rubber game badly with a 10-2 beating. O’s Third-Baseman Manny Machado was the most hated person in Oakland for the series, but was fueled by the hateful Oakland fans and finished the series 3-11 with a home run and three RBIs. It could have easily been a 2-1 series win for the Birds had it not been for Donaldson playing the Oakland hero.
Starting pitching was many people were worrying about on this Baltimore team, but after the Oakland series, the starting pitchers would not allow more than four runs for the rest of the trip. The staff combined to go 46 Innings, allowing only 10 earned runs on 42 hits and striking out 29.
This rotation isn’t known for striking out many batters, so the 29 strike outs is not a surprise, but being able to have hitters put the ball in play and get the key outs was the strongpoint for this stretch. Chris Tillman continued to show improvement with a six-inning, one run performance against the Los Angeles Angels, and lefty Wei-Yin Chen showed how dominant he can be by throwing eight shutout innings against the Mariners.
One thing that did surprise many was the absence of the Offense by the O’s. Minus the eight runs put up in the win against Oakland, the Orioles would not score above four runs the rest of the road trip.
If there is one thing that fans should not worry about, it is the hitting. Although the Orioles seemed to struggle getting the bat on the ball, this team is still very dangerous and they are still second in the Majors in Home Runs at 125, only two behind the Toronto Blue Jays. Chris Davis continued to struggle at the plate, although he is developing into a clutch hitter.
The Orioles’ hitting will eventually get back on track, but the question that arises is whether the starting pitching can keep up their recent performances. Kevin Gausman will need to develop a consistency that the Orioles can depend on, since Ubaldo Jimenez has been anything but the $50 million dollar man that they signed in the offseason.
In a division that is now starting to heat up, the O’s will need everything working to win the East and head to the playoffs for the second time in three years. Their 26-23 home record will need to change and mirror that of their 32-23 road record. They will have a chance to do that as they return home for a six game stand against the two teams they just beat up on, the Angels and Mariners.
A.J. Risser is a writer for Couch Rider Report. Go give him a follow on Twitter and Facebook.
