Baltimore Orioles, Buck and the bullpen: An explanation for a rough week
By Nate Wardle
Traveling away from Oriole Park at Camden Yards continues to plague the Baltimore Orioles, who have lost 11-of-20 road games in 2017.
The Baltimore Orioles are limping into the week, coming off a sweep by the Kansas City Royals and a four-game losing streak.
All is not well right now in Birdland, friends.
And, it isn’t hard to see why.
The Orioles have been decimated by a problematic bullpen recently. The Zach Britton injury is a huge blow. But, when Darren O’Day isn’t available for five days, you have major issues.
The blame doesn’t just go to injuries and availability. It goes to usage and maneuvering. Let’s review the last week.
Monday saw a great start by Kevin Gausman, followed by O’Day and Brad Brach for an inning each. O’Day left up a solo home run to Bryce Harper, and Brach left up a run on a double by Matt Wieters. Luckily, the Nationals ran themselves into a rundown and the Orioles survived.
This game saw a fantastic comeback by the Orioles to tie the game in the ninth, and Logan Verrett pitched three good innings to get the extra inning victory. The Orioles used just two relievers in the game, Verrett and Mychal Givens.
At this point, the Orioles had just swept a short series against the Nationals and were the best team in baseball.