The Orioles got September off to a good start on Sunday thanks to a seven-run seventh inning that propelled the Birds to a 7-3 victory over the Yankees to avoid a sweep.
Unfortunately, the Orioles have a bit more work to do this month than they would like in terms of securing a place in this year’s postseason, due to August being the team’s second consecutive month with a losing record (12-14). When July ended the Orioles occupied third place in the AL East and were 5.5 games out of first place. They began play Sunday in fourth, 8.5 games back of the Red Sox.
Offensively August was an improvement from the prior month, but that wouldn’t necessarily have been hard to accomplish considering how bad July was. As a team the Birds hit .255/.314/.422 and drew 77 walks, their second highest monthly total of the season. Their 174 strikeouts were the second fewest behind May’s 162. For the month the Orioles hit (.270) with runners in scoring position, which isn’t too far off from the .274 they’re at on the season. It definitely felt lower in August though, especially with games of 0-11, 0-8, 2-11, 3-14, 2-14, and 0-7 included. Oh, and they led MLB with 13 sacrifice flies.
Chris Davis launched nine home runs. Only Alfonso Soriano and Miguel Cabrera hit more. Davis’ 23 RBI were good for fourth in MLB. Adam Jones continued his superb season, posting a .311/.339/.509 line to go along with five home runs and 21 RBI. Manny Machado, who gets a pass for his .196 average in July, rebounded to hit .321 and found the doubles stroke again with seven. Brian Roberts had his best month of 2013 with the bat while Matt Wieters largely had one to forget. Wieters finished with a .179 average, the worst of any August since he’s been in the majors. Seven of his 15 hits went for extra bases, so there is that.
Danny Valencia didn’t play often (only five games), but he made the most of every game. In each appearance he had multiple hits and was 11-for-18 at the plate with four doubles and two home runs. That’s good for a 1.167 slugging percentage if you were wondering.
On the mound, the starters pitched to a 4.49 ERA and 1.34 WHIP while the bullpen had numbers of 4.05 and 1.35, respectively. On the positive side the starters allowed their second fewest hits of any month this season with 147 in 154.1 innings. On the not-so-good side, only April’s 68 walks were more than August’s 59. The bullpen’s ERA was its highest since May and the 14 home runs allowed represented the most of any month this season. Opposing teams hit .251/.324/.446 versus the starters and .284/.337/.477 against the relievers. The .814 OPS against is the highest for the Orioles bullpen since July 2011.
Bud Norris, Wei-Yin Chen, and Miguel Gonzalez would just assume August never happened. They combined to surrender 52 earned runs over 87 innings (5.37 ERA) and 15 home runs. Norris managed to pick up three wins so there was some consolation. Scott Feldman posted his best ERA (3.14) since May and Chris Tillman had his best month of the year as far as keeping base runners to a minimum with a 1.02 WHIP. Tillman’s outing against the Oakland A’s on August 24 generated a game score of 79, the second highest of his career. Naturally, the O’s lost the game.
Tommy Hunter logged 15 innings and was dependable for the most part in them, picking up two saves along the way. Francisco Rodriguez lived up to his “K-Rod” nickname with 18 strikeouts in 12 innings, but had a few shaky moments as well. I was at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on August 2 when newly acquired Michael Morse, then with the Mariners, hit a home run off of him in the eighth inning. I think I was home before the ball landed. Brian Matusz (5.68 ERA) is glad the calendar has changed and Jim Johnson is happy to be out of Arizona, where his only two blown saves of the month occurred.
Five months down and the most important one of the season to go. #BUCKleUp
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