A coach says goodbye, and some improved pitching stats

When Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias confirmed recently that 14 members of the O's player development department will not be returning next year, it was a tough day.

But Elias needs to be able to bring in his own people, and he said that change is needed to improve the Orioles. The moves are hard but not totally unexpected. He inherited a lot of his staff last November. The reshaping of it comes now.

Last week, one of those 14 reached out and wanted to thank those who hired him. And today I'm happy to pass those words along.

Pitching coach Justin Lord worked for the club since 2013, when he was pitching coach at Single-A Delmarva. He spent the next three seasons with short-season Single-A Aberdeen, then was back with Delmarva in 2017-2018. He was with the Single-A Frederick team this year.

"I'd like to thank Brian Graham (former O's director of player development) for giving me my first coaching job in a major league organization out of independent baseball," Lord said. "He's the one who took a chance on me. I came down to instructional league in 2012 and worked for three weeks, and that is where I met Rick Peterson, the pitching coordinator at the time. They gave me the opportunity and I have a lot of gratitude for those two guys."

In addition to being DL Hall's coach his first two years of full-season ball, Lord has worked with so many over many years.

He thought back to working with the Orioles' 2012 second-round pick in his first full season.

"Branden Kline started out in Delmarva with me in 2013 and suffered a broken ankle and was bit by the injury bug for years," Lord recalled. "But to see him break through... He always had a positive attitude, and to see him get called up after several years of grinding and pitch on the biggest stage is incredible to see a kid do that."

Lord was there when Mychal Givens began his conversion from shortstop to pitcher. He said he enjoyed working with so many players and mentioned three college draft picks who had to go to extended spring the year after their draft. But they kept working to get better, and Donnie Hart, Stefan Crichton and Stephen Tarpley all saw some time in the majors. Lord saw Parker Bridwell spend two years in Delmarva, but also got to see Bridwell spend time in the bigs.

The grind and challenge was real for the pitchers. And their coach.

Lord is on the lookout now for his next job. He'll turn 40 in November and hopes he is in the midst of a long coaching career.

"Absolutely. It's a turn in the road," he said. "It's not something I want to get away from. Everyone has a passion to do something, and I'm fortunate that I've gotten to do what I love to do. I've got a few irons in the fire and I think some may be heating up a little bit. I want to continue to coach and impact the lives of these young guys. I always try to be the coach and mentor that I wanted to play for.

"The relationships you build and develop with players goes so far beyond the game. There are relationships that carry on the rest of your life. Most of the guys you coach, especially at the lower levels, they may never make it and go onto something else in life. If you can instill the type of work ethic and habits at an early age, those are things you thrive on. You have to focus on coaching people. The numbers tell you how tough it is to make the majors. To have that impact on those guys is very rewarding."

Change in baseball is constant. On the roster and off it. Elias is doing what he needs to do and he's being allowed to shape his staff as he sees fit. That makes perfect sense, and I look forward to meeting the new hires and forging new relationships myself.

But I also appreciated Lord and so many others who are leaving that I've gotten to know and helped me often in this job. Those who did what they love and loved the Orioles. Those who put in countless hours with countless players. Those who got huge signings bonuses, but also those who must have known in their hearts they would never make it to the big leagues. But they worked hard anyway.

The passion, work ethic and knowledge was indeed evident, and they'll take it with them to their next opportunities.

The pitching stats recently: The Orioles bullpen combined for four scoreless innings in Sunday's 8-2 win at Detroit. And while that 'pen had big missteps in the ninth and 12th innings on Saturday, it has been pretty good lately.

The bullpen pitchers have allowed one run or none in five of the past six games. In those five games, they've allowed just two runs over 20 1/3 for an ERA of 0.89.

O's pitchers have not allowed a home run in three of the last four games. They are 20-6 (.769) this season in games in which they have kept the ball in the park.

O's starters have allowed two earned runs exactly in five consecutive games. The rotation ERA is 3.42 in that span, and the Orioles are 3-2.

The Birds went 7-for-12 (.583) Sunday with runners in scoring position. They are 11-for-25 (.440) with RISP in the three games in Detroit, and they've scored 18 runs in the series. The Orioles have hit at least one homer in nine straight games, hitting 13 total.