Your Baltimore Orioles currently have the best record in MLB. Yes, I know, it’s only April 23 and we’re only 16 games in, but we’re O’s fans! We get very excited over every little good thing this team does and also get very angry over every little bad thing they do.
The only other times in team history that the O’s have started 12-4 or better were in 1966 and 1997. If you just hopped on the bandwagon after the 2012 season or have lived in an underground bunker & are not familiar with what happened in 1966, head on up to the club level of Camden Yards and take a peek at that beautiful World Series trophy. 1966 was the first year the Orioles won the World Series.
Baltimore’s first-place record has a lot to do with their 23 home runs, which we all expected. However, the biggest contributor has been a surprise: the pitching. And not just our bullpen, but also our starting pitchers. Orioles pitchers have only allowed just three runs over their last 42 innings. Yes, you read that right.
Go on, I’ll take a minute for you to re-read that. Also, per Baltimore Sun’s Jon Meoli, the Orioles won last night’s game with 29 of 143 pitches at or above 90 MPH. In today’s velocity-obsessed MLB, that’s remarkable.
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With Chris Tillman still out on his rehab assignment, our starting pitchers have consisted of Kevin Gausman, Ubaldo Jimenez, Dylan Bundy & Wade Miley. Also, Alec Asher, who gave us a quality start last weekend against Toronto and Jayson Aquino, who was called up from Norfolk & got his first major league start & win last night. Aquino’s start, which clinched the series against Boston, was the Orioles’ 8th quality start in the last nine games.
Oh, and Trey Mancini hit his 5th home run for the season. In other news, water is wet & the sky is blue. Now, back to the pitching.
Prior to the season, if I were to ask you who our “ace” would be, chances are you would say Gausman, right? Well, in four starts, Gausman has a 1-1 record with a 7.23 ERA in only 18.2 innings pitched. Bundy, on the other hand, has quickly won over our hearts with a 3-1 record & 1.37 ERA in four games. He’s also struck out 20 & only walked four in those 26.1 innings pitched.
But wait, there’s more! Miley is holding it down with a 1.89 ERA & 24 strikeouts in 19 innings pitched. Most recently, his outstanding outing against Cincinnati where he nearly went the distance with 8 innings pitched & only allowed two hits, one walk & struck out 11.
And as always, Baltimore’s bullpen continues to be dominant. They have not allowed a run in 8.2 innings & haven’t allowed a hit in the last eight.
The Orioles go for the sweep against the Red Sox today as Gausman gets the start and former Orioles prospect Edwardo Rodriguez gets the start for Boston.
The question is, will we be seeing 2016 Gausman or Ubaldo 2.0 this afternoon?
