Right-hander Jorge López had a couple of good starts for the Orioles last year, but he could not put much consistency together. And then he started this year with an 11.42 ERA after two starts.
But last night was about as good as he has looked in an O's uniform.
In his previous 11 games with the Orioles dating to last season - when he posted a 7.28 ERA - he never had swing-and-miss stuff like he had last night. A night when he was painting corners with 97 mph fastballs.
A night when he and a strong bullpen performance pitched the Orioles to a 5-2 win at Texas. It was a nice start to a five-game road trip.
López was rolling pretty well, so why not leave him in past the fifth inning? He took a no-hitter to the fifth and then gave up two solo homers. The O's were still leading 5-2. Let him throw another inning, right?
I think taking him out there was the exact right move by manager Brandon Hyde. Let him leave on a high note, feeling very good about his outing and with his confidence hitting a high note as well. We've seen him struggle so much this year, especially the second and third time through lineups, so get him out then and there and let the bullpen take it from that point.
Now López heads into his next start feeling good about his last one.
López fanned eight over the first four innings and he was really dealing. The eight strikeouts are the most he's had as an Oriole, as were the 14 whiffs he got among 35 swings by Rangers batters. He averaged 94.5 mph on his two-seamer, topping at 97.
That is three straight outings where an O's starter allowed two earned runs or fewer, and six for the season. Maybe they can start to stack up a few of them.
Speaking of pitchers: Matt Harvey was given just two runs of support in his start in the first game of the doubleheader on Thursday against Seattle. As it turned out, that was not enough for the right-hander, or for the Orioles, to get a win.
Harvey started the game with a 1-2-3 first inning on 10 pitches. He had a shutout on one hit - a single off the glove of second baseman Ramon UrÃas - through four on 66 pitches.
But he hit a batter and walked one in the fourth, and before the fifth inning ended he was out of the game. The Mariners went just 3-for-18 against Harvey, the fewest hits he has allowed since April 2019, but he could not finish five innings.
Mitch Haniger's two-run homer, followed by an error, ended his day. But it was a strong outing, if not a long outing, and one that was very encouraging to the O's skipper.
Hyde said he saw Harvey at a time when he could throw 100 mph with a slider at 91, and while those days are gone for him, his days of being a solid starting pitcher may not be.
"Absolutely, I do think that (he can be good for us)," said Hyde. "When he was throwing 96 the first couple of innings, it might have dropped down to 92 to 94 there the last couple of innings. But what I like about Matt is that, one, he's incredibly competitive. Two, is that he can pitch. So, he's got a slider, a changeup, you saw some two-seamers at 96 the first couple of innings that had huge sink.
"The two-seamer is relatively new. And so he's still morphing. Even though he is later in his career right now, he is still making adjustments. And I just think it's time (needed) with Matt. I believe in the character.
"If you look at his outing, you know, we dropped the ball at second. That, arguably, should have been an error. A groundball base hit that goes through the right side that was a 50-50 play. And then a two-run homer. That was all he gave up in 4 2/3. So, I think that was pretty impressive. It could have easily been a 2-0 game going into the sixth inning there. So, I do think he's on the right track."
Harvey, who is 0-1 with a 5.02 ERA in three outings, is using his two- and four-seam fastballs a lot. He threw those pitches 64 percent of the time against the Mariners and has used them 60 percent for the season. He's throwing his slider 21 percent, his curve 10 and his changeup nine percent.
He's still looking to get deeper into games, with outings of 4 2/3, five and 4 2/3 innings in his first three starts. But he looks like he has a real chance to help this team.
Lefty Paul Fry got five big outs and looked great last night. The O's bullpen threw four scoreless innings and recorded seven strikeouts. Over the last five games, the Baltimore bullpen has a 2.35 ERA, and they lowered their ERA for the year last night to 3.96.
Tonight at Texas, right-hander Dean Kremer (0-1, 10.50 ERA), who has pitched just three innings in each of his two starts, will try to join in on the recent good pitching.
TATER STEW pic.twitter.com/1LmDmjcORM
-- Baltimore Orioles 😷 (@Orioles) April 17, 2021