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The Rundown: Buck Needs More from Starters, Walker & Mancini Rake

Christain Walker completes his swing.
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April baseball consists of rainouts, cold weather, and scheduled off-days and the Orioles have had to deal with it all through their first 11 games. The O’s return home on Tuesday night to take on the Toronto Blue Jays and begin a stretch of 13 consecutive games. The team – and especially Mike Wright, who will take the mound in the first game – is probably looking forward to finally getting into a routine as the third week of the season begins.

 

SECOND GUESSING BUCK

Twitter was buzzing Saturday night when Buck Showalter stuck with Yovani Gallardo in the seventh inning against the Texas Rangers. Gallardo walked the first hitter, allowed a double and was replaced by T.J. McFarland. Before we knew it, the Orioles squandered the lead and lost the game.

[Related: Buck is Still the Best, But Nobody’s Perfect]

Most fans were satisfied with a six inning performance, but Gallardo had only thrown 96 pitches. The bullpen has been overworked, and Gallardo was continuing his mastery of allowing runners on base, pitching deep into counts, but not surrendering any big time damage. Showalter decided to trust the veteran and it backfired. It was the first time all season the team truly missed Brian Matusz as McFarland is a marginal big league pitcher and Mychal Givens has struggled for the entire season.

Showalter understands the big picture and is not going to overuse Brad Brach, Darren O’Day and Zach Britton as it will be a very long finish to the season with those guys’ arms hanging by a thread.

This is where all of the questions about the starting pitching staff heading into the season are coming to a head. These guys just can’t pitch deep into games and it’s going to consistently be a problem. We’re satisfied with a six-inning start and that’s just not good enough over the course of the season to be considered a contender.

On Sunday alone, 10 starting pitchers in Major League Baseball threw seven innings in their starts. The Orioles struggle to get their starters into the sixth inning and have had one pitcher complete seven innings through 11 games in Ubaldo Jimenez.

Coming up, the O’s face the Blue Jays followed by the Kansas City Royals and if they want to continue their impressive start to the season, the starting pitching has to figure out a way to pitch deeper into games.

CHECKING IN ON TWO MINOR LEAGUE HITTERS

Christian Walker had an impressive spring training – so impressive that he was a legit candidate to make the 25-man roster. The Orioles decided to move him to left field to give him a better chance at a promotion at some point this season. Walker has not disappointed, as the 25-year-old already has three home runs and eight RBI to go along with a batting average of .289 and on base percentage of .357.

Trey Mancini runs.

GulfBird Sports/Craig Landefeld

Due to a roster crunch, the Orioles have kept their 2015 minor league player of the year, Trey Mancini in Double-A Bowie. Mancini hasn’t allowed that to affect his game as he is off to a torrid pace. The right-handed power hitter already has five home runs and 10 RBIs along with a batting average of .324 and an OPS of 1.243.

[Related: The Rundown – Ubaldo’s Personal Catcher?]

The Orioles have proven they will trade their minor league talent for players who can help give them a push to the playoffs and a chance to win the World Series. We are still very far away from reaching that point, but you can bet the first two names teams will be asking about this July are Walker and Mancini.

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