Hess struggles, Davis returns and other notes

No doubt Orioles right-hander David Hess has hit a rough patch. He gave up seven hits and five runs in Sunday's loss at Atlanta. Over his past three starts against Boston, Washington and the Braves, he has allowed 15 runs and 17 hits over 12 innings for an 11.25 ERA.

Manager Buck Showalter said: "You look at the strikes thrown in the outing, it's OK, but he's wild in the strike zone. You look at where he's trying to go. He's a pretty straight-fastball guy, which really makes him need to be real good with his command."

In the three starts before his last three, Hess gave up two runs over 18 2/3 for a 0.96 ERA. That was pretty good. And now three that followed that were not.

No reason to do anything else with Hess right now but give him another chance in five more days. During this lost season the Orioles need to identify who can help them work toward a better day in the future. Hess has found his way into the rotation and he should just stay there.

If his struggles continue over a longer stretch, maybe you look to give another young pitcher a shot. But yesterday his pitches were elevated at times and simply found too much of the plate. We need to find out if he can make an adjustment now and work through this. Boston and Atlanta are two of the highest-scoring teams in the game, but yes, you have to beat them, too.

We need to learn more about Hess, a homegrown pitcher who earned his shot to be here. Looking back at Kevin Gausman's past and the many times he went back and forth between the minors and majors, maybe it's time to learn from that. That could not have been the best thing for his development. For now, let Hess try to work it out.

Davis returns: Chris Davis returned this weekend after missing eight games, and he drove in a combined five runs in wins Friday and Saturday. He went 0-for-4 yesterday and 2-for-12 in the series. A .167 average for the series is nothing great, of course, but five RBIs is the kind of run production expected from Davis. In his previous 24 games before the series opener, he had no homers and two RBIs.

While we didn't see any outwardly obvious big changes in Davis' stance or approach, for want of a better word, he just looked calmer at the plate. Showalter said not to expect results right away, but we basically got some. It was encouraging.

As the Orioles eventually look to get younger and at the same time more athletic with their position players, they are still going to need a vet or two to go with that group. Maybe Davis can be that guy. Maybe the games Friday or Saturday provided hope that he can salvage this season and - not to be dramatic - but his career as well.

No sweep: The Orioles have been involved in a lot of series sweeps this year, only on the wrong end of them. They had a chance to get one of their own yesterday, but the loss in Atlanta instead meant they had to settle for a series road win, just their third of those this year. They are 3-9-1 in 13 series away from Baltimore.

The Orioles have been swept three straight this year at Houston, Boston, Detroit, Anaheim and Oakland. They were swept at home by the Nationals and Red Sox. For good measure, they were swept four in a row at Toronto.

IronBirds add two: So far, not many 2018 draft picks have made their way to short season Single-A Aberdeen. Two outfielders were there to start the IronBirds' season, in fifth-rounder Robert Neustrom and 14th-round pick Doran Turchin.

Now Aberdeen has added a third pick from the 2018 draft, left-handed pitcher Kevin Magee. He was taken in the ninth round out of St. John's. As a college senior this season, Magee went 7-3 with a 2.67 ERA, with 15 walks to 92 strikeouts over 77 2/3 innings. Magee moved up from the Gulf Coast League, where he had pitched in two games for the GCL Orioles, going 0-0 with a 3.86 ERA. In 2 1/3 innings he gave up two hits and one run.

Aberdeen also added lefty pitcher Matt Hammonds, the Orioles' 29th round pick in 2017 out of Sonoma State. He had also been with the GCL team. He made one start, on June 20, and over five innings gave up seven hits and three runs.

By the way, Turchin had the best game of his short pro career Sunday in Aberdeen's 7-2 win over Vermont. He went 3-for-4 with a two-run homer and three RBIs. Turchin is batting .212 and Neustrom is hitting .257.