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Baltimore Orioles Pitcher David Hess Has Solidified His Spot in Rotation

By Christopher Church

TORONTO, ON - JUNE 7: David Hess #41 of the Baltimore Orioles delivers a pitch in the first inning during MLB game action against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre on June 7, 2018 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - JUNE 7: David Hess #41 of the Baltimore Orioles delivers a pitch in the first inning during MLB game action against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre on June 7, 2018 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images) /
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Through five major league starts with the Baltimore Orioles, pitcher David Hess has proven he belongs in the Orioles starting rotation.

Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher David Hess held the Toronto Blue Jays to a run through six innings of work in his fifth major league start on Thursday night.

Besides allowing a home run to leadoff hitter Curtis Granderson to open the Orioles-Blue Jays series, Hess was sensational the rest of the way.

However, that didn’t stop Hess from staying true to his game plan of attacking the strike zone. According to The Baltimore Sun’s Eduardo A. Encina, Hess threw first-pitch strikes to 19-of-23 batters faced.

The Orioles rookie pitcher elaborated on his performance with Encina on Thursday night saying:

"Going out there I was just trying to attack the zone and give my defense a good chance to work. Kind of force contact as much as possible. Actually after that long first inning, knowing that if I was going to get deeper in the game, I had to be real efficient with pitches. We just really focused on going hard at them the whole time. I think we were able to do that."

Hess silenced the Blue Jays through six innings and performed well enough for his third MLB win, but exited the ball game in a 1-1 tie, giving him the no-decision.

Since his rough outing against the Boston Red Sox on May 20, Hess has a 0.96 ERA in 18.2 innings pitched and nine strikeouts. Outside of Orioles ace pitcher Dylan Bundy, Hess has been atop the Orioles rotation for innings pitched (29.1), earned runs allowed (10), opponent batting average (.245), and WHIP (1.19).

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Now in five MLB starts, Hess has lowered his season ERA to a promising 3.07 and faces another huge task of pitching against the Boston Red Sox in his next start on Tuesday, June 12 at Orioles Park at Camden Yards.

Hess faced the Red Sox earlier this season in his second career start, allowing five earned runs and eight hits in 4.2 innings pitched.

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