Despair! Welcome back to another edition of ‘O’s Magic’, a Cool Sports Newsletter series made by a die hard Orioles fan! The Baltimore Orioles begin their road trip today after their three game series against Kansas City in which they won two games, both of which coming on walk-off hits in the bottom of the ninth! However, saying they went 2-1 does not do justice to the ugly display they showed for essentially all three games. Here are the ‘Quick Hits’ from Baltimore’s series vs. Kansas City.
Things That Were Intriguing
Play in the Clutch
If you would have told me Baltimore would go down 3-0 in all three games in this series, I would have told you we got swept. But no. And it wasn’t a full-effort throughout the game. Game 1 the Orioles didn’t score until the 4th inning (where they scored three runs for the record). The second game they lost convincingly, and in game three the Orioles didn’t cut into the Royals early 3-0 deficit until the bottom of the eighth inning. The Orioles won because of their play in the clutch. Jordan Westburg, who was at the time 0-3 in game one, hit his first career walk-off home run to right field on a well-hit baseball, and the Orioles two runs in the bottom of the eighth led to bases loaded for James McCann to walk it off in game three. Last season, the Orioles led the American League with 48 comeback wins. Already, the Orioles have three. This team can play in the clutch.
The Diversity of Talent
Every Orioles fan should know the song ‘Orioles Magic’. And then there is one line from that song that elevates itself from the rest: “Every game there’s a different star, that’s the magic of Orioles baseball!” And folks, that line is true, especially for the 2024 Orioles. The two guys to walk it off were the Orioles second baseman who’s playing his first full-year in the majors, and their backup catcher. This team has talent and guys who can step up everywhere on this team. One game it’s Gunnar, then Adley, then Tony Taters and then fricken Jordan Westburg! It’s awesome. That’s the true reason why this team had success last year, and why they’ll have success this year.
Relief Pitching
And lastly, the Orioles relief pitching. We’ll get into their starting pitching later, but it’s safe to say they were not good in this series. Average at best. What kept the Orioles alive was their bullpen. In game one, Baltimore’s pen only allowed one run due to a chaotic inning from Craig Kimbrel that he was lucky to get out of. Starter Cole Irvin allowed all of the runs in game two, and Corbin Burnes allowed two of the three runs in game three. The bullpen has given Baltimore’s offense an opportunity. And in games one and three, it paid off!
Areas That Need Work
Middle of the Lineup
This is pathetic! The Orioles middle of the lineup is costing them runs this season. The Orioles have seen average on-base production from Gunnar Henderson, great hitting from Adley Rutschman, multiple home runs and a high RBI count from Tony Taters and consistency from Ryan Mountcastle. And then there is the middle of the lineup: Austin Hays, Jordan Westburg and Cedric Mullins. Westburg, despite his walk-off, is 4-19, Hays is 2-18 with no power hitting production either, and Mullins is 4-18 with one RBI since opening day. On the bright side, Jorge Mateo has played well and so has Colton Cowser in his short stint this season. If either of them stay consistent, maybe they take the 5, 6 or 7 spots. While the O’s rank 7th in the majors in runs, they rank 21st in hits thanks to the middle of their lineup.
Starting Pitching
After Corbin Burnes’ and Grayson Rodriguez’ first pitching performances, I was feeling really nice about the Orioles starting pitching…and then this series happened. The Orioles have three ‘quality starts’ (3 or less earned runs in 6+ innings pitching) in 2024, and they all came in the first series against the Angels. The Orioles did this thing where they got off to a 3-0 deficit…every game. The O’s were lucky to come back. While the O’s starters weren’t horrible, when your ‘ace’ has two K’s in almost six innings and when you're making your offense play from behind all of the time, it will be hard to sustain success. Kyle Bradish and John Means could not be more missed!
Adley’s Power Hitting
Adley has not had a bad start to the year. He’s hitting .333 with a .440 OBP. This category is not suggesting that Adley has had a bad season. He’s actually had a very good season so far. But for a guy who doesn’t have much speed and has a build to be a pure power hitter, no home runs and three RBI’s on 21 at-bats is not quite what I expected. Now, his consistency has outweighed his lack of power. But for a guy his size with that much velocity when the ball leaves his bat, I would like to expect a little more power statistics from the All-MLB catcher!
The Orioles start a six game road trip against Pittsburgh and then Boston today at 4:12 PM EST!
Chase Coburn
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