Orioles saving best for last

The 2018 Orioles had five different pitchers register saves, led by Brad Brach with 11. Only Mychal Givens and Paul Fry remain with the club.

Brach, Zack Britton and Darren O'Day were traded in July and Givens was anointed the closer this season by everyone except manager Brandon Hyde, who refused to hang the label on one reliever.

He wasn't doing it just to throw everyone off the scent.

The Orioles have won four games and four different relievers are credited with saves - Fry, Mike Wright, Richard Bleier and Miguel Castro. Wright and Bleier didn't own one before this season. Castro's save last night was his first since 2015 with the Blue Jays.

"This is a bullpen by committee deal," Hyde said last night on MASN.

This is also unusual when considering what's transpired in the first week.

According to STATS, it's only the second time in club history that four different pitchers have recorded saves in a five-game span. Gregg Olson, Kevin Hickey, Mark Thurmond and Mark Williamson did it from May 31-June 4, 1989.

They each had a save from June 1-4, so this is also the second time that four different Orioles pitchers notched a save in four games.

If the Orioles intend to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the 1989 team, this is one way to go about it.

Why not?

This is the second time since saves became an official stat in 1969 that any team's had four different pitchers record a save in the first five games of a season. The Orioles join the 1991 Padres with Larry Andersen, Craig Lefferts, Wes Gardner and Mike Maddux.

It's been an adventure for the Orioles. Castro surrendered a solo home run last night to Rowdy Tellez and they hung on for a 2-1 win - their fourth in a row to match their longest streak last season. Bleier was charged with a run the previous night and took a ball off his knee, staying in the game and nailing down a 6-5 win.

The four wins have come by a combined six runs. Living on the edge, but it beats watching a season die slowly.

Perhaps Givens will be available this afternoon as the Orioles go for the sweep. He threw 49 pitches on Sunday and Hyde has avoided him the past two nights.

He didn't have much choice. The Orioles want Givens' arm to stay attached.

Hyde said Jimmy Yacabonis is the reliever behind Nate Karns this afternoon for the series finale. Karns worked two scoreless innings Saturday and the Orioles would love to nudge him through the third today.

Yacabonis also followed Karns on Saturday and allowed one run in three innings to get the win. Wright replaced Bleier in the ninth, struck out two batters and garnered his first save.

John Means appeared to be a candidate today to replace Karns, with Hyde going right to left, but Sunday's game might be responsible for altering those plans. Means threw 79 pitches over 3 1/3 innings for his first major league win.

Meanwhile, the Yankees are starting left-handers James Paxton and J.A. Happ and right-hander Domingo Germán in the three-game series at Camden Yards that begins Thursday afternoon.

The Orioles have confirmed only Alex Cobb for Thursday, which requires a corresponding roster move. They're off Friday and Dylan Bundy could start Saturday on an extra days' rest.

But there's more immediate business at hand. The attempt to win five straight games for the first time since taking seven in a row from Aug. 23-30, 2017.