The Orioles will look to end their two-game losing streak on Tuesday night with Ubaldo Jimenez taking the mound for the Birds. Buck Showalter will also try and navigate through a bench that currently consists of the backup catcher that night, an outfielder in Nolan Reimold and a player in Hyun-Soo Kim that can’t be used as a pinch hitter, pinch runner, or defensive replacement.
One of my biggest complaints with Showalter over the years has been the lack of him using the bench to keep the starters fresh throughout the season. With the current situation, it becomes nearly impossible to give any of the starters a day off. I can’t imagine this lasting very long as it handcuffs any late inning strategy Showalter may want to deploy. We’ll find out later today if Adam Jones aggravated his rib injury and if he did, the team may be forced to place the centerfielder on the disabled list due to the bench situation.
GAUSMAN PITCHES WELL IN FIRST START
I am a known Kevin Gausman apologist, and I’m OK with that. I believe in his talent and if the Orioles are to battle for the division title this season, Gausman will be a huge reason why. Gausman was lights out through the first four innings, but like all of the starters this season, one inning cost him the chances of pitching deep into the game.
[Related: Word on the Street: O’s Cruising, Gausman Should Give a Boost]
Gausman matched Tampa Bay Rays starter Chris Archer pitch for pitch up until the fifth inning when a borderline pitch to Steven Souza Jr. turned the entire game around. In the end, the start was very encouraging and despite the lack of pitching deep into games, the starting rotation has done exactly what we all asked of them to do which is keep the team in games.
Maybe I’m delusional – and I’ll let the readers tell me that I am – but I actually think a starting rotation of Gausman, Jimenez, Chris Tillman, Mike Wright and Tyler Wilson will be good enough to compete. The way this team shuffles the roster, this could change next week and obviously when Yovani Gallardo returns it will be different, but for now, I’m fine with this current setup. Am I nuts?
OFFENSE STRUGGLING
The offense that was clicking through the first two weeks has hit their first bump in the road as they have now scored three runs or fewer in five of their last seven games. I’m not going to overreact as they have faced some good pitching in the last week, but when the starting pitching has done a good job overall, there were some potential wins they let get away.
As previously mentioned, we’ll know the status of Jones later as this would change the dynamic of this offense, but it was good to see Pedro Alvarez hit two doubles on Monday night. This guy has elite power, but hasn’t shown that through the team’s first 18 games. When Manny Machado and Mark Trumbo start cooling down, the O’s will need a player like Alvarez to get hot to pick up the slack.
