Well, that was one frustrating loss.
The Orioles got a sixth straight quality start but not a sixth straight win, losing 3-1 to Cleveland as they missed a chance to record their first four-game sweep there since September of 1971.
Justin Masterson gave up one run and seven hits over 7 1/3 innings to get his seventh win. The Orioles had eight hits overall but went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position.
Tommy Hunter gave the club his second straight solid start, but took the loss, despite...
The Orioles' five-game win streak has certainly been fueled by excellent starting pitching, and the Orioles have given up just ten runs over those five games.
As for the offense, the Orioles are certainly not putting up big numbers there. They currently rank third in the AL in homers and ninth in slugging, but only 11th in runs and batting average and 12th in OBP.
But they have averaged 4.6 runs per game during the win streak, a tick up from their season average of 4.15 runs per game. Last...
After spending all of the last two seasons at Single-A Delmarva, Ty Kelly was considered a decent player but was not listed among the Orioles' top minor league prospects.
But his play this year should be getting him some attention. He recently moved up to Double-A Bowie from Single-A Frederick, and is 9-for-23 with four RBIs in his first six Baysox games.
But Kelly, a 13th-round pick out of Cal-Davis in 2009, put up some really impressive numbers at Frederick. In 76 Keys games, he batted...
It sure makes it easier to win when your pitching staff gives up 10 runs over a five-game stretch. And it was seven before the ninth inning Sunday.
Before this win streak, the Orioles had lost six of seven games and they gave up 45 runs during those six losses. Pretty easy to note the difference.
By the way, seldom will you see a player not produce a hit, score a run or have an RBI with a better game than Taylor Teagarden had Sunday. He caught Zach Britton and the two that followed him to the...
Aaron Baker, who leads all Orioles minor leaguers this season with 22 homers and 76 RBIs, suffered an oblique injury today during batting practice with Double-A Bowie and the injury could keep him out for the rest of the season.
Sometimes, these types of injuries can take four to six weeks to heal and there are only about six weeks remaining in the minor league regular season.
The 24-year-old Baker was acquired by the Orioles from the Pirates last July 30 in a deal for then-O's first...
It's been a stunning five days of pitching by the Orioles. Since giving up 25 runs in losses Monday and Tuesday at Minnesota, the Orioles now have a five-game win streak during which they have given up ten total runs.
Zach Britton pitched six shutout innings today as the Orioles beat Cleveland 4-3. Britton gave up four hits with two walks and five strikeouts, throwing 104 pitches.
The Orioles entered this series with a 7-18 record at Cleveland since 2004. But a win Monday night there would...
Some mid-game notes as the Orioles lead the Tribe 2-0 after four innings:
* Zach Britton has allowed just two hits so far and has gotten seven groundball outs among his nine outs. It is always a good sign for Britton to get groundballs with his sinker.
Britton pitched to an ERA of 2.81 over his last five Triple-A starts before giving up four runs in four innings Tuesday at Minnesota. Britton had a 2.14-to-1 ratio of ground-to-air outs in his eight Norfolk starts.
* J.J. Hardy had been in a...
Don't look now, but not only has Ryan Flaherty homered in back-to-back games, but he has hit three homers over his last 19 at-bats. That came after he had hit just one homer in his first 91 Orioles at-bats.
This also comes at a time when some fans were becoming vocal about Flaherty and wondering why the Orioles were keeping the Rule 5 pick on the roster.
Buck Showalter has said a few times this year that Flaherty could have a chance to be a big league regular later in his career.
But as a...
For a road trip that began with the Orioles allowing 25 runs in two games as their starters gave up 11 runs over a combined 4 2/3 innings, things have improved. And in a hurry.
The Orioles four-game win streak has energized the team and probably encouraged a fan base that was sensing some doom and gloom. Now the Orioles are tied with Chicago and Oakland for the second wild-card berth in the AL.
The win streak once again emphasizes how important it is for this club to get strong pitching to...
The Orioles used two big swings and several big pitches to pick up another big win.
Jim Thome hit a two-run homer in the seventh to back the strong pitching of Chris Tillman as the Orioles beat Cleveland 3-1 at Progressive Field to take the first two games of this series.
The Orioles went into the seventh down 1-0 to the Tribe as Shin-Soo Choo led off the last of the first with a homer. But after a J.J. Hardy single, Thome smoked a line drive off Zach McAllister that just made it over the...
You know what Orioles fans were thinking on Monday night. Only an O's pitching prospect can dominate a team one game like Chris Tillman did in 8 1/3 innings against Seattle and not make it through the first inning the next start.
Tillman gave up seven runs, with just one earned, in two-thirds of an inning Monday at Minnesota. I'll give him a mulligan for that outing. A Mark Reynolds error opened the door for the big inning and, had he recorded the out, would have ended that inning with just...
Double-A Bowie right-handed pitcher Bobby Bundy is expected to miss the rest of the season and is very likely headed for surgery. An MRI discovered that Bundy has bone spurs in his right elbow.
The older brother of Dylan Bundy, the Orioles' top pitching prospect, Bobby Bundy had given up 15 runs in just 3 2/3 innings in his last two starts for Bowie, on July 3 and 8. He is 2-11 with an ERA of 6.25 on the year over 17 Baysox starts.
In 80 2/3 innings with Bowie, Bundy allowed 98 hits with 35...
The Triple-A Norfolk Tides are 21-11 over their last 32 games and are now 51-50 on the season. The 32-game run has moved the Tides within six games of first place in their division and within 4 1/2 games of an International League wild card playoff spot.
Norfolk's 51 wins are just five shy of matching the entire season total from 2011, when Norfolk finished a franchise-worst 56-87. The Tides have used 23 different starting pitchers, two shy of the league record of 25 set by the 2002 and 2004...
It was exactly a week ago that I wrote about Jim Thome and asked fans what they thought about Thome after his first seven games with the club. He was just 5-for-25 as an Oriole at that point with 11 strikeouts and not one extra-base hit.
A week later, Thome's bat is now percolating. Over the last five games he is 8-for-22 (.364) with four extra-base hits. Thome has three doubles and a homer with two RBIs in that stretch.
Over 12 games, he is batting .277 with a homer and three RBIs and the...
For a team struggling to get big hits with runners in scoring postion, it was a welcome sight. Not just scoring 10 runs tonight in a 10-2 win at Cleveland, but the two big hits the Orioles got came seconds apart in the top of the third.
With the Orioles leading 2-1, one inning removed from stranding the bases loaded, Mark Reynolds came up with the sacks full and one out in the third. Reynolds crushed a two-run double to left center that didn't miss being a grand slam by much.
The next...
For the Orioles, it has been nearly two months since their pitchers recorded three straight quality starts. Yes, it has been that long. They can make it three in a row tonight when Miguel Gonzalez pitches at Cleveland.
From May 25 to May 27 against Kansas City, the Orioles posted three in a row. Jason Hammel pitched six scoreless innings, then Wei-Yin Chen gave up two earned runs over six and Brian Matusz allowed three earned runs in six innings against the Royals.
The Orioles season high is...
Two players on the Orioles Gulf Coast League team, third baseman Hector Veloz and right-handed pitcher Jhondaniel Medina have been suspended by the team. The suspensions began a few days ago and could end sometime next week.
They were suspended for disciplinary reasons, a team official confirmed, but would not say what exactly had happened.
Veloz was signed out of the Dominican to a $300,000 bonus in July of 2010, which is believed to be the largest bonus ever given to a Dominican amateur to...
The question has been asked often: How can a team that leads the majors in errors, struggles to score runs and get clutch hits and has an ever-changing rotation that ranks 12th in the league in ERA, still be in the playoff hunt after 92 games?
I have another question as an addendum to that: How can a team with a minus-55 run differential still be in the playoff race after 92 games?
Here is the best answer I can come up with. The Orioles have shown an amazing ability this year to win the close...
Frustrated most of the afternoon by their inability to get a key hit with runners in scoring position, Mark Reynolds ended nearly eight innings of frustration for the Orioles this afternoon. His two-run single to center put the Orioles ahead and they beat the Twins 4-3 to split this four-game series by winning the last two.
Down 3-2 entering the eighth, Matt Wieters and Wilson Betemit drew one-out walks and moved up a base on a groundout. With Ryan Flaherty on deck, the Twins elected to pitch...
It wasn't exactly a homer drought, but when Chris Davis hit a long homer to right today in the second inning off Cole De Vries, it ended a stretch of nine homerless games for him. It was Davis' 15th homer of the year.
Davis entered today 0-for-11 over his past three games and 3-for-26 over his last seven contests.
That brought the Orioles to within 2-1, as Minnesota took the lead scoring twice in the last of the first off Wei-Yin Chen, who today is looking for his first win since June 17 at...