Orioles aim to buckle down after break
Max Scherzer and Adam Jones were matched up four times on the final day of the first half. Twice, Jones homered over the left-field wall off the Washington Nationals ace. It did not matter, though.
Both times, no one was on base for Baltimore’s center fielder. And the Nationals beat the Orioles 3-2.
Baltimore ranked third in the majors with 35 solo home runs yet was tied for 15th with 17 homers with men in scoring position.
The solution for Baltimore, which hammered its way to an American League East title last year by leading the AL in home runs and homers with runners in scoring position (46), might be doing the little things better.
“We are based on good quality starting pitching,” catcher Caleb Joseph says. “We’ve got a really good bullpen. We play good solid defense. And we do hit some home runs. But we had a ton of success last year. We were doing those little things, taking 90 feet, getting a guy over. Maybe hitting a ball to second base to get a guy in. It’s not for lack of effort, desire or heart; we just have not executed.”
Only three teams have a higher batting average with runners in scoring position than the Orioles (.290), yet a 6-for-79 performance with RISP during the 13 games leading into the break helped bring upon a 3-10 stretch in which a tie for the AL East lead turned into a four-game deficit for Baltimore (44-44).
With a team that was so good at capitalizing on opportunities early in the season, the question becomes what about Baltimore is different now from when it went 16-4 from June 7 to 28.
“Just got to get back (to) bearing down with runners in scoring position,” Jones says.
That includes when the team is pitching.
“A lot of teams are getting a lot of two-out hits off us,” Orioles utility man Steve Pearce said the day of the 3-2 loss to the Nationals in which his team gave up three fourth-inning runs after having a man on first base with two outs.
While the Zach Britton-led bullpen was third in the AL with a 2.90 ERA, the rotation was 10th at 4.20, some 60 points above last season’s mark.
Still, there is hope. Starter Ubaldo Jimenez has an ERA below 3.00 (2.81) for the first time since 2010, a season in which he pitched a no-hitter and went 19-8 forthe Colorado Rockies.
“He has been battling, giving us a chance to win, whereas maybe last year, maybe (I) wouldn’t have been able to say that,” Joseph says.
Then there is Chris Tillman, the opening-day starter and returning ace of the staff. After a 3.34 ERA in 2014, he’s at 5.40. In his last start, though, he allowed two runs in six innings. And he has a reputation for finishing strong. He pitched more than 200 innings last season, and he finished 6-1 with a 2.33 in 14 secondhalf starts.
“He is kind of our horse, so we’re going to lean on him,” Joseph says. “Once September comes, the position players are just running into the ground. You know 92 (mph) in September feels like 95 just because of the way your body is so tired.”
The defense also has started to back up that pitching and is tied for the second-fewest errors in the major leagues.
“Early on, we were not quite what we needed to be and were capable of defensively, and that seems to have gotten better,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter says. “That will bode well for some consistency.”
Showalter is known for trying to maximize the abilities of his roster by changing his lineup based on the situation and opponent. This shows up in the 74 different lineups the Orioles have used, the most in the AL East.
With the losses in free agency of Nick Markakis and Nelson Cruz, who combined for 54 home runs and 158 RBI in 2014, Baltimore appears to lack the same roster flexibility in 2015.
“I think we have all the flexibility we need,” Showalter says. “I hope they (front office) don’t make any moves at all.”
Part of Showalter’s belief likely comes from the health of All-Star third baseman Manny Machado after a season in which he was slowed by a knee injury and the emergence of DH Jimmy Paredes.
Machado is batting .298 with 19 home runs and 48 RBI. Paredes, a 26-year-old journeyman who has been waived by three teams, including the Orioles, has an .807 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, a .299 batting average, 10 home runs and 39 RBI.
Showalter also knows the Orioles have more than a fighting chance in the volatile AL East, in which first and last place are separated by 61⁄ games.
“Whoever gets hot is going to probably win the division,” Jones says.