Baltimore Orioles: What to Make of Recent Stellar Starts by Jimenez, Miley

The Baltimore Orioles won the last two games against the Cincinnati Reds behind stellar starts by Ubaldo Jimenez and Wade Miley.

Well, well, well. Did you expect that from Baltimore Orioles starting pitchers Ubaldo Jimenez and Wade Miley?

Ubaldo’s gem consisted of 7.2 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 4 BB, 3 K. He had his ball sinking and the groundouts were plentiful.

Ubaldo, of course, is an enigma for the Orioles. He will pitch terrible and then he will pitch like the guy who once was a Cy Young finalist for the Colorado Rockies in 2010.

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This is a guy who was excellent down the stretch in 2016.

His delivery looks to be somewhat repeatable, which is good.

With Ubaldo, Oriole fans need to continue to take the good with the bad. If he can have his ball sink, he can be a very effective pitcher. Which makes the Orioles a better team.

As for Miley, Miley has been doing very well all year for the Orioles.

Miley went eight innings, leaving up 1 ER (Joey Votto solo HR), 2 H (a Cozart double in the 8th), 1 BB and 11 Ks.

I’m not going to fret over the hits. Votto has done damage off a number of good pitchers and is one of the best hitters in the NL. Cozart has been on fire so far for the Reds and has the third-best batting average in the NL (above .400).

Miley is a guy who works fast. No slow baseball games when he is on the mound. He also does an excellent job of controlling runners and has a good pickoff move.

The 11 strikeouts tied a career high for Miley, who was able to throw wherever he wanted.

Interestingly, he said after the game, courtesy of Roch Kubatko at MASNSports.com,

"“I had pretty good fastball command, away and in. I was able to move it around. Breaking ball stuff really wasn’t there. I wasn’t able to use the slider as much as normal, but we mixed it in here and there. But the fastball command, I think it worked out where we wanted it to be. I was able to go down and away, move it up and in.”"

Well then. If he only had his fastball, it was a darn good outing.

Miley has been excellent so far in 2017. He is sporting a 1.89 ERA and has also only walked two batters total in his last two games after walking seven in his first start.

So, the obvious question is can this be sustained for Miley, and what it means for the rotation as a whole.

Can Miley keep a 1.89 ERA? No. But, can he continue to be the effective pitcher the Orioles have seen since September, yes he can. Miley continually gives credit to a conversation he had with Scott McGregor and how it helped him relax and focus on pitching.

Whatever McGregor told him, maybe he should tell Kevin Gausman the same thing.

I think that Miley will continue to pitch well. Dylan Bundy has done an exceptional job, and I expect that to continue.

I also expect better from Kevin Gausman. Gausman is, of course, better than he has been so far this season. He made it sound after his Tuesday shellacking in Cincy that he knew what was wrong, and needs to fix it. Get it done, Kevin.

That leaves the fifth starter. Don’t look now, but in about 10 days that should be Chris Tillman. Tillman will not be able to throw 100, or probably even 85 pitches his first time out. But, let’s get him back in the rotation.

That will help push the most effective long relievers out of Tyler Wilson, Vidal Nuno, Alec Asher and Jayson Aquino to the bullpen. Or, maybe the team will want to keep Asher and Aquino starting in AAA, which is fine.

A healthy and productive Tillman like the Orioles have come to expect will only further boost this team.

Next: Orioles' Schoop is Sizzling at the Plate

For the Orioles, it is all about starting pitching. So far, so good, especially with an offense that seems to be still stuck in neutral. That won’t last forever.

If the pitching can remain effective as the bats heat up, it is going to be a lot of fun in Birdland in 2017. A lot of fun.

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