Baltimore Orioles: Getting Back Into Rhythm

Jul 17, 2016; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Baltimore Orioles center fielder Adam Jones (10) is congratulated by first baseman Chris Davis (19) after he scored a run during the first inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /

The Baltimore Orioles got through the first series after the All-Star Game with two victories in three games on the road.

Even though the series win was over the floundering Tampa Bay Rays, it counts the same in the standings and gets the team back into baseball rhythm after the break.

Buck Showalter spoke about the rhythm issue in his Sunday postgame remarks, saying …

"“Worley threw well. He had I think 10 days off from pitching. I wanted to get those guys out there. Despaigne had eight, Hart had eight, so we got some things accomplished. And Dylan had been off a while, so it’s a real challenge after the All-Star break trying to get everybody back in the rhythm again.”"

And speaking of rhythm, it was a break of the pattern thus far this year to use Dylan Bundy as a starter. Having had success as a reliever, it is not totally surprising that this is a shift of gears to take on a starter role. Bundy has been pitching from the stretch all season, doing so in every situation. Why this has been, I don’t know. The goal is to have him as a starter eventually, so why act like a full-time reliever? He did pitch from the wind on Sunday, and so it was not surprising that his command was not precise.

The vast majority of Bundy’s pitches were outstanding. The velocity is fantastic, along with the oft late movement. But there was an over-dependence and overuse of the fastball. When not commanded precisely, the results were very long fly balls, as several hitters where sitting on and ambushing the fastball.

I agree with the remarks that Caleb Joseph made about Bundy’s outing, saying multiple times that this is not going to be the general pattern we will see when he is starting on a regular basis. But to have success, Bundy is going to need to mix pitches more, along with adding the cutter back into the repertoire next season.

Joseph is becoming increasingly one of the more interesting Orioles interviews, a guy good for some great one-liners. I like this one that describes how Bundy’s pitch hit the bat, rather than the bat hit the ball …

"“I thought his stuff was really crisp. I thought he had a nice tempo out there. He left a few balls out over the plate. He didn’t give up many hits, but when they did, it seemed like they hit the barrel pretty hard.”"

And here’s another about Bundy’s fastballs …

"“You could tell he was really amped up. My palm is still killing me…”"

The Orioles were actually fortunate to get out of Florida with two wins. They were outscored in the series 9-8, hitting .218 on 22-for-101. The Birds were a mere 1-for-16 in the series with runners in scoring position.

Enabling the O’s to get a couple of wins was the pitching staff who gave up only nine runs in 26 innings. They held the Rays to a .204 average.