Since our last edition, the Birds won two of three in New York before hitting the skids in the worst way since before Adley Rutschman debuted, losing five straight in Houston and at home to Cleveland. They rebounded nicely with four straight over the Tribe and visiting Rangers before laying an egg in the finale on Sunday Night Baseball. Thankfully, the Yankees have also been swooning, and as of today, the O’s lead them by percentage points in the AL East.
Let’s focus on the seven game homestand, a 4-3 stretch that precedes a six-game swing out west to Seattle & Oakland starting tonight, and see who was up and who was down.
Three Up
Heston Kjerstad
Silent J had himself a set, batting .438/.550/.938 good for a 302 wRC+. That included his first two MLB homers this year, the second of which was the game-winning grand slam Saturday night. In just 20 PA, he drove in eight, the most on the team.
Heston Kjerstad looks ready to stay at the MLB level this time, but so did Kyle Stowers a few weeks ago. You’ve gotta think one of these guys will be dealt here at some point, right?
If this is an audition, Kjerstad is certainly helping his trade value. If it’s the start of a long stay in Baltimore, he’s shoehorning himself into Brandon Hyde‘s lineup decisions every night.
Cedric Mullins
Cedric Mullins once again looks to be righting the ship. After batting just .136/.162/.182 in May, Mullins’ bat was much more respectable in June: .286/.329/.519 with five doubles, two triples, and three homers, and he finished up the month on a high note, batting .333/.368/.778 with two doubles, two homers, and three RBI on the homestand (221 wRC+, tied for second on the team over that time with Gunnar Henderson).
Here’s to Mullins continuing this upward trend. We don’t need him to be 2021 30/30 Ced, but April/May Ced was unacceptable. Credit to Brandon Hyde for continuing to let the veteran grind through, and to Mullins for putting in the work to turn things around. This team is a much more legitimate contender when Mullins’ glove is patrolling CF AND his spot in the lineup isn’t a black hole. If he can be near league average, that will do.
Albert Suarez
Albert Suarez was roughed up in consecutive starts in New York and Houston, allowing eight ER on 16 hits in just 8.2 IP. We were all a bit apprehensive when he toed the rubber on Friday against the Texas Rangers, but Big Al responded nicely, scattering three hits over six innings, allowing no walks and no runs, striking out two.
You’d certainly like to see more strikeouts, and I’d be remiss to not point out the Rangers’ .158 BABIP against Al that night, but results matter, and Suarez has earned himself a couple more turns, at least.
Honorable Mentions
Gunnar Henderson (221 wRC+), Colton Cowser (3 HR, 157 wRC+), Ryan O’Hearn (134 wRC+), Jorge Mateo (113 wRC+, baserunning clinic), Grayson Rodriguez (7 IP, 2 ER, STOPPER), Corbin Burnes (7 IP, 1 ER), Keegan Akin (2 IP, 0 ER), Craig Kimbrel (one-run saves!), Dillon Tate (3.0 IP, 0 ER), Cionel Perez (3.2 IP, 0 ER), Cade Povich (first MLB win)
Three Down
Ryan Mountcastle
Ryan Mountcastle had a rough go of it last week, with just four hits (1 XBH, a 2B) in 20 PA, despite going 3-for-5 in Tuesday’s loss to the Guards. That’s a 48 wRC+, and Mounty missed his chance to boost his production by facing a guy he’s historically crushed, Texas’ Andrew Heaney, on Sunday Night due to an illness.
Not hitting, got sick. That’s a down week.
Hopefully Ryan is feeling better (and there’s no whispers of the vertigo returning) and back in the lineup against the M’s tonight or tomorrow. He is currently battling Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the second round of All-Star voting, so be sure to vote once a day and get Mounty his first All-Star start! With a career-high 120 wRC+ this season, the guy has earned it.
Cole Irvin
The Cole Irvin feel-good story has officially crashed back to earth. After going five scoreless in Boston on May 27, Swirv was 5-2 with a 2.84 ERA and had pleasantly surprised all of us in admirably filling a rotation spot. However, June was very unkind to the southpaw, as Cole lost three of his four decisions and got progressively worse as the month went along. Over his first three starts of the month, he allowed nine earned runs in 17.2 IP. That’s a 4.71 ERA and a “ok, we can deal with this as a fifth starter” kind of situation.
Since then, the wheels have completely fallen off. Irvin’s last three starts:
4.2 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 2 HR
4.0 IP, 10 H, 8 R (4 ER), 1 HR
3.2 IP 5 H, 5 ER, 1 HR
The Rangers were squaring up everything on Sunday night, putting an exclamation point on Irvin’s 6.30 ERA month of June. In his starts against Cleveland and Texas, he struck out just 3.52/9, while allowing 2.35 HR/9. When you’re allowing nearly as many homers as you’re getting strikeouts…yikes.
How much longer can the Birds keep trotting Irvin out there every fifth day? We said the same thing about Albert Suarez, and he rebounded nicely (see above). However, Irvin has a bit of a longer track record of mediocrity, especially since coming to Baltimore. It’ll be interesting to see how Mike Elias & Co. treat ol’ Swirv here going forward.
Yennier Cano
The final spot here was a toss-up between Yennier Cano and Nick Vespi. The nod will go to Cano, as he walked more and struck out fewer than Vespi, and, more importantly, we expect more from him.
In his first appearance of the week on Tuesday, Cano allowed two runs on three hits in an inning. That included a triple and a run-scoring single, turning an 8-7 game into a 10-7 game that the O’s would ultimately lose 10-8. He rested until Friday, then couldn’t find the strike zone, walking the first two he faced then allowing a single (around a K) to load the bases before being replaced by Jacob Webb.
Fortunately, he was better on Saturday, pitching a clean seventh in a one-run game.
It’s indisputable: this team needs another bullpen arm. You can’t have your back end stalwarts pitching one clean inning every three appearances.
Dishonorable Mentions
Nick Vespi (8.10 ERA), Matt Krook (18.00 ERA), Ramon Urias (0-for-10, 1 BB)
