After going through a recent stretch where their starting pitchers produced just one quality start in a 14-game span, the Orioles have now gotten two straight quality starts as they head into the second game of their series with the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Orioles (29-37) got consecutive six-inning outings from Tyler Wells Thursday at Toronto and Dean Kremer last night versus the Rays. They combined to throw 12 innings, allowing 10 hits and one run. The Orioles now have 14 quality starts for the year and are 10-4 in those games. Wells and Jordan Lyles lead the club with four each.
Kremer lowered his ERA to 2.35 in three starts with an 82-pitch outing. It was the Orioles fourth scoreless start of five innings or more this year. Bruce Zimmermann threw five scoreless on April 17 versus New York and Lyles went five scoreless on April 20 at Oakland. Wells pitched six scoreless May 30 at Boston before Kremer allowed no runs on just five singles last night.
The O’s bullpen took it from there in a 1-0 win to open this series. Félix Bautista, Cionel Pérez and Jorge López combined to strikeout eight batters in the last three innings with no walks as Bautista touched 101.4 mph with his fastest pitch, while Perez got to 98.6 mph and Lopez 98.4. Lopez recorded his 10th save and his fifth of more than one inning, getting the last four outs. His ninth-inning ERA of 1.21 is second-lowest among all major league relievers.
On June 12-13, in back-to-back games at Kansas City and Toronto, the Orioles' bullpen allowed 11 runs over 7 2/3 innings. But over the past four games the ‘pen has yielded just two earned runs in 14 innings.
