When things get rough, and your back is against the wall, what do you do? You fight back. The O’s did that on Wednesday night to avoid getting swept in the three-game set versus the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. It was the last game of a 2-4 six-game road trip that they’ll be hoping to erase from their memories with a ten-game home stand at Camden Yards on the horizon.
Rays ace Chris Archer (6.2 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 10 K) snapped back into his vintage self with a dominant performance and Rays catcher Curt Casali (1-2, 2 RBI) turned into the unlikely hero on Monday in the Orioles 2-0 loss. That despite Kevin Gausman (5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K) looking revved up and turning in an excellent performance in his 2016 debut.
Things didn’t get better for the O’s and their offense in particular on Tuesday night, either. Jake Odorizzi (5 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K) and Ubaldo Jimenez (6 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 6 K) were locked in a tightly contested pitching duel before CF Kevin Kiermaier launched a two-run homer in the sixth inning of the Rays 3-1 win to set up the series sweep going into Wednesday’s finale.
With the offense sputtering, the O’s needed a starter to take the hill and literally be impeccable on Wednesday to avoid the series sweep, and that’s exactly what they got out of Chris Tillman. The 28-year-old Californian looked remarkable on the mound and allowed just two hits over 6.2 ‘’slam-the-door-shut’’ innings with two walks and nine strikeouts. Joey “ROY” Rickard broke a nil-nil deadlock in the fifth inning with a three-run blast off of Rays All-Star pitcher Matt Moore (7 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 9 K) to give the O’s the lead and eventual win after Zach Britton locked up his fifth save of the season en route to a 3-1 O’s victory. The Rays had to keep their brooms in the janitor’s closet, and the O’s are flying back to Camden for a ten-game stretch.
The O’s will be glad to be home after a tough six-game road trip that saw them take just two out of the six games and drop back-to-back series for the first time this season. The O’s have also gone just 3-7 in their last ten games on the road and are 4-6 in their last ten games total.
The Orioles (12-8) are just 5-8 since their perfect 7-0 start, but are still holding down first place in the AL East. However, the red-hot Boston Red Sox (12-9) have cut their lead to just 0.5 games as we head into the upcoming four-game set against the Chicago White Sox (16-6).
Let’s take a look at the O’s trip to Tampa:
Goodness gracious, where has all the hitting gone? Up until about a week ago, the O’s high-octane offense was ruthless while crushing the ball and was scoring runs at will. Now as of late, we’re lucky to see them put a runner on base every two innings. Or score a run every game.
The O’s hitters combined to hit just 17-for-94 versus Tampa Bay, good for a dreadful .180 average with four runs scored in three games. And three of those four runs were off of Rickard’s three-run bomb on Wednesday. In total, the O’s offense went just 40-for-196 (.204 average) with 15 runs over their latest six-game road swing, and 14 of their 40 hits and eight of their 15 runs came in the O’s 8-3 over the Royals last Saturday. They’ve scored a measly five runs in their last four games, and again, three of those came off of one swing of the bat from Joey Rickard on Wednesday.
It seems as if the O’s have lost their super-charged power bats as of late also. After posting 25 homers in the first twelve games of the year, O’s sluggers have hit just three in the past eight games, and have just one in their past 43 innings.
But the run scoring was a trend that has been declining for a week or two now. Over the first ten games of the year, the O’s high-flying offense posted 56 runs. Over the last ten games since, they’ve pushed just 29 runs across the plate. I guess that’s why they say hitting is contagious, because when it’s there, the O’s rain hits all over the field. And when it’s not, we’ve got guys spinning in circles in the batter’s box. (Looking at you, Adam Jones). Let’s take a look at a few mini-slumps that have plagued O’s hitters recently:
Despite the game winning homer last night, Joey Rickard is 3-for-24 over his last six games. Manny Machado is 0-for-15 in the four games since his outstanding 16-game hitting streak ended. Adam Jones is just 5-for-29 (.172 avg) over his last eight games, and hasn’t recorded a multi-hit game all season.
Mark Trumbo, despite going 3-for-11 versus Tampa, had his 11-game hit streak snapped with a 0-for-3 line in the series finale on Wednesday. Chris Davis went 4-5 with a home run versus Kansas City last Saturday, but went 1-for-20 in the other five games of the road swing.
Matt Wieters is 1-for-12 in the past four games after his five-game hit streak was halted. J.J. Hardy is just 5-for-28 (.178 avg) over the past eight games since his six-game hit streak ended on April 19th. And lastly, Jonathan Schoop is just 3-for-33 (.090 avg) over his past ten games.
The moral of the story? Hitting is obviously the most contagious thing in the world.
But let’s end this wrap-up on a positive note, shall we?
– After allowing just two runs on five hits over 7.1 innings with 5 Ks, the O’s terrific bullpen finished the series with an impressive 2.53 ERA and 1.22 WHIP. On the year, the O’s stellar relievers have posted the 2nd best ERA in the AL (1.80) and the 3rd lowest BAA (.201) with a rock-solid 1.10 WHIP and stellar .283 OBP against.
– And somebody please slap me, because I must be dreaming. I joke of course, but really, the starters in Gausman, Jimenez and Tillman pitching phenomenally all series long versus Tampa deserve all of the plaudits. The trio allowed just four runs on 11 hits over 17.2 innings with just seven walks and 22 Ks while posting a superb 2.09 ERA and 1.01 WHIP. Hopefully the trio’s excellence will carry over in the coming weeks and more importantly, rub off on the rest of the arms in the rotation.
-The O’s allowed just 19 runs over the six-game road swing, and just six over the three games versus Tampa Bay. This is another trend the O’s will hope to carry forward, as the pitching staff had allowed 44 runs over the previous nine games before the road trip.
That’s all for now O’s fans! Now it’s time to see if the O’s can shake off their tough trip away from the confines of Camden before the red-hot White Sox roll into town tonight.
More on that to follow…
