Baltimore Orioles Winning the Bullpen Game So Far

Friday night was another successful game for the Baltimore Orioles, as the entire team shined once again.

A baseball analysis could say there are five phases to the game. There is the offense, defense, base-running, starting pitching, and relief pitching.

Each of these segments of the game could deserve their own article, and will as time goes on.

The Baltimore Orioles so far have gotten fantastic starting pitching, as discussed here.

The base-running has been very good. For a team without a lot of speed, base-running comes down to taking extra bases where available, and not running into outs. So far, so good.

The offense has been excellent. Hitting home runs, including a barrage off of ace Chris Archer on Friday night. Patient at-bats were common, highlighted by Matt Wieters at-bat in the fourth inning, where he worked Archer for 10 pitches and drove an RBI single into left field.

The Orioles’ defense is always fantastic, and their one error so far probably wasn’t an error.

That leaves us with relief pitching. Everyone expected the Baltimore Orioles to have a very good bullpen this year. They brought back Darren O’Day on a big contract. They have closer Zach Britton, one of the best in baseball. Brad Brach has proven himself to be a very good set-up guy, and Brian Matusz is a capable left-handed specialist.

Many people thought that Dylan Bundy and Mychal Givens would only help the already deep Orioles’ bullpen. And then, there are guys like TJ McFarland, who was excellent on Friday night, to fill in as long relief.

Statistically, the bullpen has pitched 17 innings so far, fifth most in the major leagues. Of course, this number is skewed by the short start Chris Tillman had on opening day due to the rain delay.

The bullpen ERA over those 17 innings is 1.59, which is the eighth-best so far in the majors, but fourth-best in the AL East. The Blue Jays are the only one worse, and their bullpen has been a dumpster fire so far.

Admittedly, it is a small sample size. But, for Oriole fans, there is one other thing to take note of here.

All of the runs have been allowed by one person: Mychal Givens.

Givens has pitched two innings of the 17 the team has pitched so far, yet has allowed the only three runs. After 2015, many thought the converted short stop was ready for a permanent spot in the O’s bullpen. But he has struggled a bit so far this year, with 5 H allowed, 3 ER, 1 HR, 1 HBP. In 2015, Givens pitched 30 innings and allowed six runs. In 2016, Givens has pitched two innings and allowed three runs.