The Orioles offense isn’t exactly clicking on all cylinders, but the production is being nicely spread around. Press play or read below for more:
Since bottoming out at .198 following an 0-for-4 in the first game of a doubleheader against Oakland on May 7, Adam Jones has hit in eight straight games, a span during which he’s gone 15-for-34 with two doubles, four homers and 10 RBI. He’s driven in at least one run in six straight games.
Joining him on an offensive tear lately has been Jonathan Schoop. Schoop managed a slash line of just .218/.256/.423 in April, leaving many to wonder if the break out he’d teased in an injury-shortened 2015 was just a fluke. In May, though, Jonny Beisbol is hitting .350 and slugging .600. He has hits in 11 of 13 games this month, and multiple hits in five of those. He’s hit three home runs and driven in 11, highlighted by his two-home run/one-grand slam night against Detroit on Saturday.
Jones and Schoop have turned it on just as another couple big O’s bats have cooled off a bit. Mark Trumbo had just two hits and one RBI against Detroit. Before his home run in Sunday’s game, Manny Machado had gone four games without an extra-base hit or an RBI. While four games should hardly be considered a “slump,” when the team had been relying on the otherworldly production of those two, their suddenly quiet bats would have been felt more acutely if other guys hadn’t picked them up. As it stands, the Birds took three of four and you probably didn’t even notice that Trumbo and Machado had fallen off their torrid paces a bit.
It’s great to see the offensive load being spread around. While it’s always fun when everybody gets hot at once – as is currently the case with the other first-place AL East team – it’s equally frustrating when the bill comes due and everybody slumps at once.
A couple guys heat up as some others cool down: as long as they continue to get better-than-expected starting pitching and as-advertised relief pitching, that’s the recipe for this early-season success to continue through the All-Star break and into the “dog days” of summer.
