Baltimore Orioles: Lots of Bullets to Win a Game
The Baltimore Orioles won a free-for-all baseball game over the Chicago White Sox 7-5 to get their critical 10-game road trip off to a good start.
It is always a good thing to win the initial game of a road trip, but the Orioles had to use a lot of bullets – meaning a lot of resources – to do just that. Fortunately it was not an extra-innings game.
Shouldn’t it feel like an easy night when you pound out 16 hits while your starter earns a quality start with just two runs allowed? One would think so. But this was not an evening when it ever felt like the game was in the bag, not even with a 7-2 lead in the eighth inning.
With 10 games in 10 days over three cities, it would be great to not have to use a lot of energy and tools for the opening game. Yovani Gallardo had one of those bend but don’t break evenings, scattering seven hits and enjoying some hard-hit balls right at people. At the same time, the Orioles had an uncharacteristic four-error game. Were the seats uncomfortable on the flight to Chicago?
Speaking of uncharacteristic, it was such an evening for Darren O’Day in yielding three runs with just one-third of an inning to his credit. His ERA went from 2.45 to 3.46 in one evening. That can happen to relievers and skew numbers in a hurry, which is why I like to look at relief statistics by throwing out the two worst games a pitcher has over the season. Everyone has a bad game or two, but if a reliever is consistently good over 90% of the time, that’s a keeper.
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Zach Britton came on for the 48th time this season to record his 34th consecutive save. If you throw out his worst two outings of the season, that would mean he has only allowed one run in 45 innings. It would be a 0.20 ERA. Even so, his actual ERA at this point is 0.58, the best in MLB.
Talk is building that Zach is a legit Cy Young candidate. That would be great and he may well deserve it, though I have my doubts that it would go to a relief pitcher. The last reliever was Dennis Eckersley in 1992, so I guess it is possible. For comparison’s sake, he had a 1.91 ERA that year in 69 games with 93 strikeouts in 80 innings, converting 51 of 54 save opportunities. So it looks like Britton has the better ERA so far and will have similar total saves, though Zach would look to likely end with less innings, games and strikeouts. Consider however that the batting average against with Eckersley in 1992 was .191, but for Britton it is currently .138!
Next: Improved Orioles Outfield and DH Production
But for now, it is great to have the win in the books, especially since Toronto was also victorious. And next up in the rotation for the Orioles is Chris Tillman going against Carlos Rodon and his 2-8 record with 4.67 ERA. Fortunately it is a night game at 8:10 EST, so the O’s don’t have to sleep fast, as Buck often says.