A look at how the O's offense has fared against some top pitchers

Some of the offensive stats the Orioles are putting up so far in the 2020 season are quite impressive. Some are not expected to hold up over 60 games, of course. Players and teams can get off to fast starts and level off. It is expected.

But one potentially quite encouraging aspect to the start of this season that could bode well for the offense is that they've have hit well versus some very good pitchers. I took a look back at their performance against a select strong group of hurlers.

Here is a list of accomplished pitchers they have faced thus far:

* Right-hander Gerrit Cole, who signed a nine-year, $324 million contract with the Yankees in December. He was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2011 draft and was second in the American League for the 2019 Cy Young Award. He's finished in the top five for that honor three times.

* Lefty J.A. Happ of the Yankees, who has 11 years in the big leagues and 121 career wins. He is a $17 million per year pitcher for New York.

* Tampa Bay Rays left-hander Blake Snell, the 2018 AL Cy Young Award winner.

* Tampa Bay right-hander Tyler Glasnow, who posted a 1.78 ERA last year.

* Washington Nationals right-hander Stephen Strasburg, who has finished in the top five for the Cy Young Award twice in the last three years. An 18-game winner last year, he was the 2019 World Series MVP.

* Phillies right-hander Zack Wheeler, who had a 2.08 ERA at gametime Tuesday. The Phillies signed him as a free agent over the winter for five years at $118 million.

* Phillies right-hander Jake Arrieta, the 2015 National League Cy Young Award winner. He entered yesterday with a 2.45 ERA this season and an ERA of 1.32 in two career starts versus the Orioles in 2014 and 2017.

Here is how this solid group pitched versus the Orioles:

* Cole: 6 2/3 innings, four hits, three runs, one homer allowed.
* Happ: Four innings, four hits and runs and two homers allowed.
* Snell: Three innings with four hits and three runs given up. He yielded two home runs.
* Glasnow: 4 2/3 innings allowing three hits, two runs and a homer.
* Strasburg: 4 1/3 innings allowing seven hits and five runs.
* Wheeler: 5 2/3 innings allowing eight hits and three runs.
* Arrieta: 4 2/3 innings, seven hits and four runs.

The totals for the seven pitchers: 33 innings, 37 hits, 24 runs, all earned, with six homers allowed. That works out to an ERA of 6.55. The Orioles have gone 4-2 in those games with the suspended game that Strasburg started to be resumed today at 5:05 p.m.

That is a list of seven pretty strong and talented pitchers. None dominated the Orioles. Only one even posted a single game ERA under 4.00 against Baltimore and that was Glasnow at 3.86. Cole's ERA on July 29 versus the Orioles was 4.05. His ERA in his other three starts is 2.87.

So the Orioles' offensive stats have not been compiled against bad pitchers or teams. They've earned those runs and again yesterday they broke through against a quality starter in the middle innings. In the second or third time through the lineup. Are they going to school the first time through and pouncing later? In several games, they have.

The Major League Baseball computer has the Orioles with 18 games, although they have a 10-7 record. They have already counted the stats from the suspended game for players and the team. They will be added to today. In 18 games, the Orioles have scored 96 runs. In their 18 games, the Yankees have scored 94.

The top of the order has really been special, with Hanser Alberto hitting .351 with nine doubles and 10 multi-hit games. Anthony Santander has an RBI in seven straight games, driving in 12 runs in that span. He has 19 RBIs on the year. Only the Yankees' Aaron Judge and the Rockies' Charlie Blackmon with 20 have more. José Iglesias is batting .383 with eight doubles and nine RBIs. Renato Núñez is hitting .318 with five homers. Rio Ruiz is batting .271 with five homers.

Three Orioles have an OPS over 1.000. They are Chance Sisco at 1.298, Núñez at 1.036 and Pedro Severino at 1.032. Pat Valaika and others have come off the bench to contribute or make a few starts with big hits. The Orioles have been very aggressive early in the count, but we've also seen some lengthy plate appearances. One was Austin Hays drawing an 11-pitch walk Saturday night at Washington during a five-run rally in the eighth.

Now the O's and Nats meet again, and this time, the club that has fared well against some opponent aces and top-of-rotation talent will get pretty much three of them. Strasburg starts tonight's regularly scheduled game in a rematch from Sunday and will be followed this weekend by Patrick Corbin and Max Scherzer.

Those three pitchers are working on long-term contracts for the Nats that total $595 million.

So another test for the improved O's hitters awaits. The 2020 season keeps getting more and more interesting.