A look at the offense, Gallardo's outing and some trade talk

Well, look on the bright side: Yovani Gallardo went seven innings for the first time in over a calender year. That actually could be a positive and we'll get to that in a moment.

But first, the offense. It's been offensive. It's been real bad.

Here are the latest numbers: The Orioles have scored just two runs in the first three games of this four-game series, losing all three games against the Yankees. They have not scored in the last 12 innings. They have scored six runs the last five games and 17 in the last eight. In going 6-10 since June 30, the Orioles have scored 52 runs (3.3 per game).

The Orioles have just 14 hits in the series at New York with a .152 team batting average and are 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position. In the six games of the road trip, the O's batters are 3-for-33 (.091) with runners in scoring position. In the last 10 games, they are 9-for-81 (.111) with RISP.

We know the Orioles can hit. They lead the majors in homers, averaged 6.6 runs per game in June and ranked fifth in the American League in runs going into last night's game. But when a team is going this bad, it feels like it will last forever.

The Orioles have lost four in a row and have been outscored 19-4 in that time. The losing streak has knocked them out of first place for the first time since June 4. Boston beat San Francisco 11-7 last night, and the Red Sox are now atop the AL East by a half-game over the Orioles and one game over the Blue Jays. Three teams are within one game in easily the closest race in baseball. The fourth-place Yankees are six games out.

Now back to Gallardo. That outing was encouraging and for a rotation that has struggled, maybe it was finally something for the right-hander to build on. He went seven innings for the first time since last June 27, 2015. He did that on 86 pitches, finally showing some pitch efficiency.

From the second through the fifth innings, Gallardo needed just 35 pitches to get 12 outs. Quite a reversal from his start in St. Petersburg when he was at 77 pitches after three innings. Gallardo was in attack mode and if he pitches more like that moving forward, it would be a boost for a rotation that needs one.

The Orioles have just 17 outings of seven or more innings this year, run down this way:

8 - Chris Tillman
2 - Kevin Gausman, Ubaldo Jimenez, Tyler Wilson, Mike Wright
1 - Gallardo

The Orioles have five outings of seven or more innings the last 28 games, three by Tillman with one each by Gausman and Gallardo.

Meanwhile, Jon Morosi of FOXSports and MLB Network tweeted this last night:

#Orioles showing interest in Jeremy Hellickson, had scout in attendance at his start for #Phillies on Wed, sources tell @ToddZolecki and me.

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) July 21, 2016

Will the O's make a play for the Phillies right-hander? This one seems doable to me. As a rental - he can be a free agent at the end of the year - the price via trade will likely be lower than for many other pitchers. And Hellickson is pitching well right now. He gave up just one run over eight innings last night against the Marlins. Hellickson has pitched to an ERA of 1.97 over his last five starts. He is 7-7 with a 3.84 ERA on the year.

Can the O's make this one happen?