The Baltimore Wire
Fansided

The Minnesota Twins and Baltimore Orioles, Polar Opposites

By Nate Wardle

facebooktwitterreddit

Aug 22, 2015; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Orioles left fielder Henry Urrutia (51) collides with Minnesota Twins first baseman Joe Mauer (7) during the fifth inning at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

The Baltimore Orioles lost their third straight game on Saturday evening, and the second in a row by one run after leading late in the game.

The Orioles have also lost all six of their games against the Minnesota Twins this year, which is terrible when you consider how close the Twins and Orioles are in the standings.

It isn’t hard to figure out why. The Orioles continue to not get enough depth from their starting pitching, and the bullpen is starting to show cracks. The team doesn’t score a lot of runs if they aren’t hitting home runs, and as the days of summer fade, it will be harder to hit homers without the heat. Yes, the warmer it is, the more homers, it is meteorologically proven.

The Twins, on the other hand, manufacture runs like maybe no other team in baseball. They ended up scoring the winning run Sunday night on a safety squeeze by their catcher, Kurt Suzuki. Can you imagine Matt Wieters laying down a successful bunt? Also, Wieters still has not won a game in August while catching.

More from Baltimore Orioles

The O’s had their chances, loading the bases in the sixth. J.J. Hardy was able to hit a sacrifice fly to score one run, but that was all the O’s got.

Is there hope? To be honest, I’m not sure.

I don’t know if the Orioles can change their offensive scheme. They have been a home run hitting team since 2012, no changes there. They keep saying they want to improve their on-base percentage, but it hasn’t happened.

The pitching is what it is at this point. The bullpen is showing signs of wear and tear after a season where they have had to pitch so often. That is despite Jason Garcia pitching very well recently, and Brian Matusz as well.

This looks a lot like 2013. The Orioles are going to hang around, and continue to put themselves in the Wild Card conversation, but in the end, this team may not have it.

It looked like after the Mariners no-hitter, the season might be slowly coming to a close. Then the Orioles swept the Athletics in a four-game series, and all of a sudden were right back in the Wild Card hunt.

Now, they have lost three in a row. And with a series with the AL-leading Royals on tap to start next week, the team is going to need to regroup. By next week, we will be about to turn the calendar to September, and the Orioles are running out of time.

Next: J.J. Hardy is a serious concern

More from The Baltimore Wire

Home/Baltimore Orioles