The old saying goes, ‘’ In order to be the best, you’ve got to beat the best’’, right? Well the Orioles did that once this weekend, but looked a bit overmatched in the other two ballgames that took place at Kauffman Stadium against the reigning champions.
After falling to Kansas City 4-2 on Friday night in a game which Royals 3B Mike Moustakas (3-4, 2 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI) pounded the O’s pitching and Chris Young (6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 10 K) dominated their powerful line-up, the O’s responded in superb fashion Saturday with a decisive 8-3 win that was fueled by a four-run fourth inning and outstanding performances from Chris Davis (4-5, 3 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI) and Mark Trumbo (3-5, 4 RBI).
The series would end on a sour note in Sunday’s rubber match however, as Yordano Ventura (7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K) turned in a lights out display on the mound before the dangerous Royals line-up cashed in four runs in the seventh inning en route to a 6-1 win to take the weekend series two games to one. It also means that the Orioles still haven’t taken a series at “The K” since May 2012.
Despite dropping two of three to the champs, the O’s are still perched atop the AL East with an 11-6 record and have a 2.5-game lead on the 10-10 Toronto Blue Jays. However, the O’s are 4-6 since starting the year 7-0 and are just 2-5 on the road after taking the first two games at Fenway earlier this month.
But first place is still first place. There’s no need to cry over spilled milk. Let’s take a look at the Orioles trip to Kansas City:
– Sure, we were all gutted to see it end, but what a ride it has been! Manny Machado’s 16-game hitting streak was snapped after going 0-3 on Sunday, but it will be remembered as the second-longest hitting streak to begin a season in O’s history. Cheers Manny! The diamond Oriole is still hitting an AL-best .380 with 16 runs, eight doubles, six home runs and 11 RBI with a .436 OBP.
– After going 4-for-13 with three runs, one homer and two RBI versus Kansas City, Chris Davis is now tied for second in the AL in runs (17), BB (15) and HR (6). The 30-year-old has also posted 13 RBI, a stellar .382 OBP and a .230 average on the year.
– On top of going 5-for-13 with 5 RBI against the Royals, Mark Trumbo extended his hitting streak to nine games with an RBI single on Sunday. The former Angel is 12-for-35 (.342 avg) with two doubles, three homers and 11 RBI during that span. On the year, Trumbo owns the second-best average in the AL (.373), is tied for 2nd in the AL with 16 RBI and has recorded five home runs and a fantastic .408 OBP.
– Jonathan Schoop snapped his 0-for-17 skid with a 2-for-4 performance on Saturday, but after a two-HR game versus Texas on April 15th, the 24-year-old is just 2-for-24 (.083 avg). His average has gone from .314 to .220 during that stretch.
– After an 0-for-5 performance versus Kansas City, Pedro Alvarez is just 4-for-37 (.108 avg) on the year with one RBI. In the meantime, Hyun-Soo Kim went 2-for-4 with his first career RBI in Saturday’s win. Even Nolan Reimold is hitting .318 with two homers in the early stages of the season. If Alvarez doesn’t snap out of his slump soon, he might find playing time hard to come by.
– Talk about a night-and-day comparison. In Saturday’s 8-3 victory, the O’s offense went 14-for-39 (.358 avg) with eight runs scored. In the losses on Friday and Sunday, they went 9-for-63 (.142 avg) with 18 strikeouts and put just three runs on the board combined. We’ll just chalk it up to KC’s pitching staff just being that filthy and leave it at that.
– I know this stat is bloated by Yovani Gallardo’s lame duck display on Friday night, but the O’s starting rotation allowed 12 runs on 19 hits over 13.1 innings with one walk and six K’s over the weekend. That’s good for a horrifying 8.24 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP if you were wondering. Yes, Tyler Wilson was a pit bull on the mound in Saturday’s win, and Mike Wright was excellent before getting tagged in the seventh inning on Sunday, but these runs don’t show up on the scoreboard by themselves. I reiterate and can’t stress this enough, Wilson and Wright showed great stuff and a lot of promise this weekend, but there’s still work to be done in this department. The offense can’t put up five, six, seven runs every night, and the bullpen isn’t going to be able to throw up zeroes on the scoreboard in every inning this season. The starters have to start carrying their weight or the water is only going to get deeper, my friends.
– Have I ever mentioned how awesome this bullpen is? Led by T.J. McFarland’s phenomenal five-shutout inning display on Friday, and Brad Brach’s (2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 K) and Mychal Givens’ (1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 K) fantastic efforts on Saturday, the bullpen allowed just one run on seven hits over 11.2 innings with three walks and six strikeouts versus the Royals. That’s a nasty 0.80 ERA and 0.85 WHIP.
– In nine games this season, Givens has a 3.00 ERA with a 1.56 WHIP over nine innings with 16 K’s. He’s tied for third in MLB in Ks among relievers.
– In nine games on the year, Brad Brach has registered a ridiculous 0.79 ERA and 0.71 WHIP over 11.1 innings with 13 Ks.
That’s all for now O’s fans! Next, the O’s will punch their ticket to Tampa to take on the Rays at ‘’ The Trop’’ for the first time in 2016.
See you then!
