OAKLAND - It seems quite improbable. But at this early stage of the 2022 season, the Baltimore Orioles' pitching rotation and entire pitching staff is hanging with the best in baseball. And the latest example came on a cool, sunny afternoon in Oakland.

Right-hander Jordan Lyles, coming off a strong outing against the Yankees, had another one today, throwing five scoreless innings as the Orioles blanked Oakland 1-0. Four relievers completed the shutout, which included an impressive five-out save from Jorge López as the Orioles improved to 4-8.

When the game ended, the Orioles charged out of their first-base dugout.

“Our guys were fired up," said manager Brandon Hyde. "In the dugout, we exploded after that last out. What an amazing job by all of our pitchers, especially Lopie coming in there at the end of the game. The first-and-third situation in the eighth and got us out of that, and then an easy ninth. Jordan Lyles set the tone, five great innings."

Baltimore has scored just a single run for three straight games in Oakland, but today they got a victory out of it. 

OAKLAND – The search for offense to match their strong pitching continues for the Orioles today in the third game of this series in Oakland. They’ve lost the first two games, scoring just two runs in the series.

Last night they hit seven balls 100 mph or more that were caught and turned into outs. Since the Statcast era of data began in 2015, just twice have the Orioles hit more. On both Sept. 3, 2017 and Sept, 21, 2019 they had opponents turn eight balls hit 100 mph or more into outs.

Does manager Brandon Hyde have concerns that his hitters will get frustrated that even when they square up balls like they did last night, the results still don’t come?

“I think we have quite a few guys pressing a little bit and they want to see results,” he said ahead of today’s game in the Baltimore dugout. “I was encouraged the way we swung the bats, especially the first half of the game. We drove a bunch of balls into the big part of the field and (center fielder Christian) Pache made a bunch of nice plays. The ball wasn’t really carrying last night.

“I know our guys want to see results and want to see some numbers being put up. We’ve started the season in a bit of an offensive funk and hopefully we get out of it soon. Maybe last night is a good sign that we hit so many balls hard that we’re on our way. We’ve also faced some good pitching, too, at this point. Hopefully, we get it going today.”

OAKLAND – The Orioles have not been able to take much advantage of the outstanding pitching they have been getting with the team scoring so few runs. They are holding the other teams’ offenses down, but right now it’s not translating into wins.

So they hope today will be the day to turn that corner and get into the win column in Oakland, where they have lost 5-1 and 2-1 to begin this four-game series and 10-game road trip.

The last two nights, O’s pitchers have held the A’s to three earned runs on 12 hits, but still no wins. The frustration just grew here on Tuesday when the Orioles hit 10 balls in play at 100 mph or more and yet seven were turned into outs. Right now they’d love to just see a bloop fall with men on base to get something going. The momentum they hoped they had built in Sunday’s win over Yankees is long gone now.

The Orioles (3-8) begin play looking for their first road win of 2022 at 0-5, and they are in fifth in the American League East and three games behind the Red Sox, Blue Jays and Yankees – all tied for first at 6-5.

In this series the O’s have scored just two runs on 15 hits, going 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position. They have scored two runs or fewer in eight of their 11 games, with a season high of five runs.

OAKLAND – In their latest night of frustration on offense, at least the Orioles could point to one fact: They smoked some baseballs and likely deserved a much better fate than they got.

But led by center fielder Christian Pache, the Oakland A’s made some outstanding plays on defense and the Orioles were once again on the doorstep of a win but didn’t get it.

They fell to 3-8 for the season and 0-2 on this road trip with a 2-1 loss at Oakland. They were held to eight hits and went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

Maybe some of what happened last night will even out sometime soon and several bloops will fall. Because the solid contact Baltimore hitters made often didn’t work on this night.

The Orioles hit 10 balls at least 100 mph in the game and seven of the 10 were turned into outs.

OAKLAND – The theme remained unchanged for Tuesday’s game between the Orioles and Oakland Athletics. For Baltimore, that means yet another low-scoring game where its pitching excelled but the Orioles hitters could not get many clutch hits.

Throw in some exceptional defense by Oakland and this night ended with more frustration and another close loss for the Orioles. 

The O’s did take an early 1-0 lead in the first inning, and great outfield defense robbed them of more in the second. And right-hander Chris Ellis, making his season debut, became the latest O’s starter to give the team a big effort.

But when Seth Brown doubled in two runs in the A's sixth inning, Oakland moved ahead and went on to win 2-1.

The Birds (3-8) have scored just 23 runs for the season and have been held to two or fewer in eight of the 11 games they've played so far in 2022. They are 0-2 to start this road trip and 0-5 in road games.

OAKLAND – The Orioles today designated outfielder DJ Stewart for assignment. Their 2015 first-round pick out of Florida State had shown flashes of power and his first-round potential, but didn’t do that nearly enough. The club needed a 40-man roster spot today for right-hander Chris Ellis to start tonight, and Stewart's was the one he got.

Stewart dealt with a bruised hand in spring training but still made the opening day roster despite limited spring chances. He went 0-for-3 in three pinch-hitting appearances against Tampa Bay and was then optioned to Triple-A, where he went 1-for-5 with the Norfolk Tides.

“DJ is just an outstanding guy and someone that has been around here since I’ve been here. Hard to see a guy you’ve been around a lot go," O’s manager Brandon Hyde said today during his pregame press briefing. "But I’m really hoping for the best with him. He’s a fantastic human being and I really wish him the best.”

Over parts of five years and 195 games with the Orioles, Stewart batted .213/.327/.400 with 21 doubles, 26 home runs and 73 RBIs.

Outfielder Austin Hays, drafted one year after Stewart, has spent a lot of time as his teammate in both the majors and minors. During an interview with reporters today, and with the news about Stewart already out, Hays was asked about Stewart. He had not yet heard the news of the move.

OAKLAND – After falling 5-1 last night and allowing four unearned runs in the series opener, the Orioles play at Oakland again tonight. It’s the second of a four-game series and 10-game road trip.

The Orioles took two of three at home versus the Yankees, but are now 2-2 in series openers and they are looking for their first road win tonight at 0-4 away from Oriole Park.

While Orioles pitching has been stellar to start the season, the Baltimore offense continues to struggle, with multiple players and the team overall not getting much going yet with the bats.

The Orioles have scored 22 runs for the season and 12 over the last five games. They have hit just four home runs, the fewest in the major leagues, and have just one over the last five games. The O’s have scored two runs or fewer seven times, going 2-5 in those games. The five runs they scored Sunday were the most they've had in a game so far this year. The nine hits they got in that game also marked a season high.

Hitter notes:

OAKLAND – When I talked with Trey Mancini before Monday's road trip opener, he - like much of Birdland - was hopeful that the eighth inning on Sunday would be a turning point for the Orioles offense.

They scored five runs and got three big hits with runners in scoring position in beating the Yankees 5-0. But whatever good was created there didn’t make it to the West Coast, at least for the series opener. The Orioles lost 5-1 at Oakland and were held to seven hits and went 1-for-7 with RISP. They have yet to have hits in double digits in a game in 2022.

On the plus side, the O’s pitching has obviously far exceeded expectations at this early stage. But we are seeing some quality stuff from several arms - in both velocity and secondary assortments - and the Orioles are executing their pitching game plans extremely well through 10 games.

The staff ERA went down Monday night, to 2.86, which is fifth-best in the majors and a far cry from the 5.85 team ERA for the 2021 season.

Mancini is, of course, impressed with the pitchers, including one he noted that pitched last night and continued to get noticed.

OAKLAND – For the Orioles, the opening game of this long road trip in Oakland had a familiar look.

For five innings it was close and low-scoring. The Baltimore offense was scuffling for runs again but the Baltimore pitching was getting the job done. Yet again they were.

On a night when the Orioles reduced their team ERA from an impressive 3.04 to an even better 2.86, they still lost. Four unearned runs in the last of the sixth doomed them to a 5-1 defeat at Oakland.

But right-hander Spenser Watkins was the latest O’s starter to throw well. He allowed two hits and one run over five innings on 67 pitches. He made a bid to stay in the rotation.

“That is always up to Skip on those (rotation) decisions,” Watkins said in the Orioles clubhouse. “But, I’m ready to take the ball whenever they give it to me and I’m going to compete.”

The Orioles and New York Yankees have exchanged wins at Camden Yards this weekend. The Orioles won 2-1 in 11 innings Friday night in a four hour, 15-minute game. And the Yankees won 5-2 last night in a game twice delayed by rain.

The Orioles (2-6) continue to struggle to produce offense. They have scored two runs or fewer six times in eight games and scored just 16 runs for the year. They are 2-3 on this homestand that ends today and have scored 12 runs in those games. The O’s season high for runs in a game is the four they scored in the second game of the Milwaukee series, in a 5-4 loss.

They scored their runs last night on one swing. Cedric Mullins absolutely crushed a two-run homer to right against New York right-hander Jameson Taillon in the O’s third inning to produce a 2-0 lead. Mullins drilled No. 2 on the year and it went 433 feet with an exit velocity of 107 mph. The blast came on a 3-0 pitch.

Right-hander Tyler Wells gave the O’s a good start last night before the pitch count got him lifted. He threw four scoreless innings on three hits with two walks and three strikeouts. He threw 64 pitches and lowered his ERA to 6.35.

Lefty Bruce Zimmermann, who was on the mound when this homestand began Monday, will be on the mound when it ends this afternoon.

O’s left-hander Keegan Akin had a poor spring training, but when the bell rang and he was on the Orioles' opening day roster, things quickly took a turn for the better.

So I had a simple question for Akin earlier on this homestand: What happened? What made the difference between his previous struggles and his throwing so well in his first two games of 2022, against Tampa Bay and Milwaukee?

Akin allowed five runs and six walks in 5 1/3 innings in spring training. But in his first two regular season outings he threw 5 2/3 scoreless on just two hits with no walks and four strikeouts. His WHIP right now is 0.35. Big difference.

Akin relates that he continues to become healthier the longer he is removed from the core surgery he had early in the offseason after last season. And since this season started he has been in attack mode, going right at hitters. Easy to say, harder to do. He’s doing it. And with success to date.

“A little bit of it was just trying to get over the hump, get back into things coming off the injury in the offseason,” Akin said. “I knew I had to get over that hump, getting back into game speed. And we knew there would be some discomfort to start, the nature of the beast, you can’t get that adrenaline going in the offseason. It was moreso, my main goal was to come out of spring healthy. Obviously, the numbers were not what I wanted and it was a poor showing the first two outings. I put one good one together there at the end.

A few observations from the Orioles’ first six games. They went 1-5, but played close, competitive games against two 2021 division winners in the Tampa Bay Rays and Milwaukee Brewers.

Rotation concerns: It’s too soon for their rotation to be in crisis, but there is some reason for concern. They have uncertainty with what they are doing with the No. 5 starter and now reason to worry about lefty John Means.

Means left after four innings last night with left forearm tightness and didn’t sound too concerned in his postgame interview. An MRI could show the club and fan base if there is any real reason for concern. But how can there not be some worry about a pitcher that has had shoulder issues in the past and is having this issue after just two starts?

Means is not only very talented but is a leader on the pitching staff. Losing him for any length of time would be a blow.

The Orioles have both Grayson Rodriguez and Kyle Bradish in the rotation right now at Triple-A Norfolk and both threw four scoreless in their season debuts. Tonight is Rodriguez’s second Triple-A start. The Tides had listed right-hander Kyle Brnovich to start tomorrow night and southpaw Kevin Smith on Saturday.

It is a marquee pitching matchup to wrap up the Brewers-Orioles series tonight as O’s lefty John Means (0-0, 2.25 ERA) faces Milwaukee right-hander Corbin Burnes (0-0, 5.40 ERA) at Camden Yards. Tonight’s winner takes the series after Baltimore’s 2-0 win Monday and Milwaukee’s 5-4 victory last night.

Burnes won the 2021 National League Cy Young Award in a close vote over the Phillies' Zach Wheeler and Max Scherzer, who was with the Nationals and Dodgers last year. In the final vote tally, Burnes came up with 151 points to 141 for Wheeler and 113 for Scherzer. The 10-point margin of victory was the closest in the NL and tied for the fourth-closest overall since the ballot expanded from three to five pitchers in 2010. The closest in the American League was in 2012, when the Rays’ David Price outpointed the Tigers’ Justin Verlander 153-149.

Some Orioles fans will certainly remember that the closest election in the AL before that occurred in 1969 with the only tie in Cy Young Award balloting, between the O’s Mike Cuellar and the Tigers’ Denny McLain, the last year when voters could select only one pitcher.

Burnes is the first Brewers pitcher to win the Cy Young Award in the NL. The only other Cy Young Award winners for the Brewers, Rollie Fingers in 1981 and Pete Vuckovich in 1982, did so in the AL. The Brewers moved to the NL in 1998.

Burnes went 11-5 with an ERA of 2.43, best in the NL, in winning the award. Over 167 innings, he recorded a WHIP of 0.94, allowed just 6.6 hits per nine and only seven homers for a homer rate of 0.4. In 2021, he recorded 58 strikeouts before issuing his first walk on May 13. The Brewers went 19-9 in his starts.