Minor league notes on Norfolk's pitching, Dosch, O'Brien and more

The Triple-A Norfolk Tides are off to an 8-4 start after beating Gwinnett 1-0 at Harbor Park last night. Right-hander Mike Wright pitched six scoreless innings and is 2-0 with a 1.72 ERA. After allowing three runs in his first 2015 outing, Wright has put together 12 scoreless innings over his past two starts.

Tides pitchers have been good all year. Their starters have worked to an ERA of 2.33 over their last nine games, while the Norfolk bullpen has pitched to an ERA of 1.75 for the season. The staff ERA for the year is just 2.73, which tops all Orioles affiliates and ranks fourth-best in the International League.

Oliver Drake has pitched six scoreless innings, allowing just two hits with 12 strikeouts. Steve Johnson has given up one run over seven innings with 13 strikeouts. Pat McCoy has a 2.08 ERA over 8 2/3 innings and Chris Jones has not allowed an earned run in seven innings with eight strikeouts out of the Tides bullpen.

New Double-A Bowie catcher Chris O'Brien is starting to settle in with his new team and organization. He was acquired by the Orioles in the April 9 trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

O'Brien, 25, batted .266/.341/.438 with seven home runs and a career-high 53 RBIs in his first full season at the Double-A level with Chattanooga in 2014. The son of 15-year MLB veteran Charlie O'Brien, Chris has hit .251/.316/.403 with 23 home runs and 158 RBIs, and has thrown out 30 percent in 315 career minor league games coming into this year.

"He looks good defensively," Bowie manager Gary Kendall said. "He receives the ball well and of course he comes from pretty good genes. His father, Charlie O'Brien, was a good catcher in the big leagues. He's thrown out some runners with an accurate arm.

"Looks like he's got a little power in his bat. Drives the ball a little bit, a switch-hitter. But he's just trying to get his feet on the ground over here and get to know our hitting people."

O'Brien hit .182 (4-for-22) in his first six Baysox games with a homer and three RBIs.

Meanwhile, Bowie right-hander Mychal Givens is off to a good start out of the Baysox bullpen. The 24-year-old Givens is 1-0 with two saves and an ERA of 1.17. In 7 2/3 innings, he has walked one and fanned 12 batters.

He is throwing with mid-90s velocity and sometimes even more from basically a sidearm arm angle. He is ranked by Baseball America as the organization's No. 27 prospect.

"Lot of life to his pitches with good velocity and good command," Kendall said. "He's done a real nice job for us. He's a better pitcher than last year - he's commanding the ball better and his breaking ball is better. His changeup has always been a good pitch for him. He is a confident kid that holds runners well and he really fields his position very well."

At Single-A Frederick, third baseman Drew Dosch has been on a recent hot streak and nearly hit for the cycle in the Keys' 6-4 win at Lynchburg last night. He doubled, tripled and homered. Yep, he was missing just a single. Mike Yastrzemski is the last player to hit for the cycle for the Keys, doing so last July 5. Before that, the most recent cycle was by Jeff Fiorentino in 2005.

Now batting .283 for the season, Dosch is 9-for-14 with 10 RBIs over his last four games. A seventh-round pick out of Youngstown State in 2013, Dosch is ranked as the Orioles' No. 15 prospect and hit .314 last year for Single-A Delmarva, ranking seventh in the South Atlantic League. He has 14 RBIs for the year - that leads the Carolina League and ties him with Delmarva's Alex Murphy for the O's minor league lead.

Single-A Delmarva had a rough night on Monday. The Shorebirds lost 5-1 at Hagerstown to fall under .500 for the first time at 5-6 with their fifth loss in a row. The Shorebirds made four errors leading to all five runs being unearned.

On the plus side, the Shorebirds lineup currently leads the South Atlantic League in on-base percentage at .344. Delmarva is second in the league in walks with 42. Delmarva's 18-year-old third baseman, Jomar Reyes, is certainly holding his own right now. The club's No. 10 prospect has a slash line of .263/.349/.395 through 11 games.

O's minor league team ERAs:

2.73 - Norfolk
3.51 - Frederick
3.73 - Delmarva
4.14 - Bowie