Baltimore Orioles Opening Weekend and the Team Moving Forward
By Nate Wardle
The Bullpen
Definitely not something to worry about. Yes, the Baltimore Orioles’ bullpen has allowed a run in every game. But, let’s look at how.
Brad Brach allowed two on Opening Day. However, baserunners were on balls lost in the sun, close pitches called balls and a lengthy at-bat. The runs scored on a flare dumped into the shallow outfield.
On Saturday night, Nestor Cortes Jr. allowed a run on a seeing-eye single up the middle past Jonathan Schoop by Joe Mauer. First, Cortes looked bad getting himself into a bases-loaded jam in the sixth inning with no outs. But, he then struck out Byron Buxton, and then got a double play on a ball hit back to him by Jason Castro. Well done, Rule 5 pick.
The seventh inning wasn’t quite as good, but Dozier and Mauer both do a lot of damage against any kind of pitcher, not just Rule 5 guys. Which leads us to the runs allowed by the bullpen on Sunday. Pedro Araujo allowed a home run to Dozier.
The Orioles’ bullpen has pitched 13 innings so far. They have allowed four runs. Two by their closer, two by their Rule 5 picks.
Other than that, everyone has pitched, and everyone has pitched well. Mychal Givens, Miguel Castro, Richard Bleier and Darren O’Day each has pitched and pitched well.
So, I wouldn’t worry about the performance of the bullpen yet. Overuse, depending on how the next few starts go, could be another story.
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A series win against the Astros would make everyone forget about the Twins series. Considering the Orioles will be running out Chris Tillman, Mike Wright and Bundy, it certainly won’t be easy.