Zach Wilt: Back end of Orioles bullpen proved its importance on road trip

Just like that, the Orioles are back to .500. Last night in Toronto, the Birds took care of business and secured a series win to even their record at 39-39. After being shut out the night before, Ubaldo Jiménez delivered his strongest start of 2017 with eight shutout innings of two-hit ball in the finale against the rival Blue Jays. It's amazing what good starting pitching can do for this club.

The Orioles have struggled mightily away from Camden Yards in 2017, going 15-25, but just concluded a solid 4-2 road trip against two division opponents. In those victories, O's pitching surrendered an average of just 2.25 runs per game. While Jiménez was the hero last night and Kevin Gausman kept Toronto scoreless for 5 1/3 innings on Tuesday night, the Orioles have also seen some solid improvements from their bullpen in recent days.

On the road trip, Orioles relievers pitched to a 1.89 ERA, the second lowest in the American League behind the Twins (1.61). They held opponents to a .203 batting average. After Jiménez went eight strong, Brad Brach shut the door with one soft hit up the middle and a pair of strikeouts to secure the victory. I'm sure that's just how Buck Showalter drew it up.

The 2016 All-Star reliever has been every bit as important to the Orioles this season as he was the year prior. Coming into last night's save appearance, Brach had delivered for the Orioles in June. Over 10 1/3 innings pitched, he's held opponents to a .143 batting average, striking out 6.10 per nine and walking just 0.87 over that span. His 0.87 ERA makes him one of three O's bullpen arms with an ERA under 1.00 in June.

Mychal Givens has been every bit as good. He made two appearances on the road trip, one at The Trop and the other at the Rogers Centre. In both, he held opponents scoreless over a total of three innings pitched. This month, Givens has a 0.77 ERA over 11 2/3 innings, with 9.26 strikeouts per nine and 1.54 walks per nine. A season ago, Givens stepped up as a dependable late-inning option for Showalter. He logged 74 2/3 innings and a 3.13 ERA over 66 games. He looks to be building on that as we near the halfway point of 2017.

This road trip also allowed Orioles fans to watch Darren O'Day be as dominant as they have become accustomed to seeing over the last six seasons. O'Day finished out the O's 15-5 loss in the opener against the Rays on June 23, then pitched in the seventh inning of the Birds' 8-5 win over Tampa on Sunday and the eighth of Tuesday night's 3-1 victory over the Blue Jays. All three were scoreless one-inning appearances in which O'Day held opponents to a .111 batting average with zero walks and three strikeouts. In five innings pitched this month, O'Day has allowed just two hits, two free passes and has struck out seven. He's tallied a 1.80 ERA in June.

With Brach, Givens and O'Day clicking on all cylinders, the O's have once again established a strong 7-8-9 option for Showalter. Over the past several seasons, the Orioles have made a name for themselves across the major leagues for their dominance in the bullpen. This strength has allowed them to win games despite having a starting rotation that ranks in the lower third of the league in most categories. It also shortens games for their opponents, making them feel that if they don't have a lead by the end of the sixth inning, the game is over.

Once the Orioles bring Zach Britton back into the fold, this aspect of their game will only get stronger. The Orioles closer concludes his rehab assignment with two more outings, one tonight and the other on Monday with the high Single-A Frederick Keys and Triple-A Norfolk Tides. As Brach, Givens and O'Day find their groove, it takes some pressure off the returning Britton, who has been on the disabled list since April with a forearm strain.

It's hard to imagine that Britton will be as dominant as he was in his historic 2016 season when he logged a league-leading 47 saves with a 0.54 ERA. The bar doesn't get any higher than that. Whatever the O's get from Britton will be an improvement on their bullpen, though, and continue to ease the burden of the starting rotation. That's been the Orioles' recipe for success since 2012.

Zach Wilt blogs about the Orioles at Baltimore Sports Report. Follow him on Twitter: @zach_wilt. His views appear here as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our pages. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.