A stellar 10-game start for Orioles pitching (and Jackson Holliday is coming)

As it turned out, No. 1 ranked prospect Jackson Holliday starting in the minors was not about service time. As he arrives today in the big leagues, he can still get a full year of service this season and can still get the O's a draft pick if he wins the Rookie of the Year award.

And while he was briefly on the farm, he got rolling as a hitter, got more experience playing second base and went 4-for-10 with two doubles and a homer against left-handed pitching. And without him the O's went 6-4.

All worked out pretty good, right?

In ten games with the Tides, the 20-year-old Holliday hit .333/.482/.595/1.077 with five doubles, two homers, nine RBIs, 12 walks and eight strikeouts. He was controlling the zone, playing top-notch defense and now after just 32 Triple-A games (counting the playoffs), here he comes.

I imagine we will not see it at the outset, maybe he bats low in the lineup initially, but wouldn't it be something if Holliday hits leadoff followed by Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson. That would feature two 1/1 draft picks at the top and the last three No. 1 prospects in baseball.

Yep, good times in Birdland. It's a Holliday today in Boston.

And that pitching: With all the talk of how well the Boston Red Sox had been playing and how well they had pitched and how the Orioles were struggling on offense maybe we forgot something important - the Orioles have been pitching pretty darn well too.

That continued Tuesday afternoon at Fenway Park as they improved to 6-4 on the year and to 4-0 in series openers. They have won those four games by a combined 29-10 score.

For the first time in a long time, the Orioles have a legit ace - right-hander Corbin Burnes is their best pitcher and is also one of the best in all of MLB.

He followed up Dean Kremer's strong outing on Sunday with one his own as the Orioles beat Boston 7-1. Burnes gave up a homer to the third batter he faced and almost nothing else to a Boston team that entered their home opener at 7-3 and in second place.

Burnes went seven innings, allowing two hits and one run with two walks and six strikeouts. He is now 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA in three outings and the Orioles are 3-0 in those games.

Yep, having an ace pitcher makes a difference.

The Orioles have already pitched a pair of two-hitters this year - both games started by Burnes. 

The win relaxes an anxious fanbase that is adjusting to what it's like to follow a good baseball team. One that can get nervous quickly over a loss or two. 

Burnes has allowed one, two and one earned run thus far. Over 18 2/3 innings he has allowed two walks and has 20 strikeouts. He has given up just a .176 batting average and OPS of .494.

"That was No. 1 starter stuff there," manager Brandon Hyde said after Tuesday's win.

Burnes and Kremer have allowed two runs (one earned) in 14 innings the past two games with two walks and 12 strikeouts. 

The Orioles already have six quality starts in 10 games. It took them 20 games to get six last year. In 2023 they didn't get QS No. 7 until Game No. 32. 

The Baltimore team pitching ERA is 2.67 for the year. In their 10 games the staff has allowed just 20 walks with a .202 batting average against and .579 OPS allowed.

Baltimore pitchers have allowed three or fewer earned runs seven times and four or less in each of their 10 games.

The rotation, pitching right now without left-hander John Means or righty Kyle Bradish, has a 3.02 ERA and the starters have walked two or less in 10 of 10 games. Their starters have allowed two earned runs or less six times already.

The Baltimore bullpen has been stellar too. Since allowing four earned runs in the season's first two games, the 'pen ERA is 1.07 (3 ER/25.1 IP) the last eight games.

By the way, Tuesday's game marked Burnes' sixth career start versus an AL East team. He is now 3-0 with a 1.27 ERA, allowing 17 hits in 42 2/3 innings against AL East clubs.

He just might work out here. 

It was great to see outfielder Colton Cowser have a 2-for-4 day with four RBIs. His double in the second tied the game at 1-1 and his two-run double in the fourth gave his team a 3-1 lead. He added a sac fly in the eighth.

Last season, Cowser had four RBIs in 77 plate appearances with the Orioles. He had four yesterday alone in his first career multi-RBI game. Now, for the season, he is 7-for-15 with four doubles, five RBIs, a .467 batting average and 1.171 OPS.

The Orioles went 3-for-28 batting with runners in scoring position at Pittsburgh and were 6-for-41 with RISP the previous five games. They went 8-for-15 in the win yesterday.

It has not been boring to start the 2024 season. Four walk-off games already. Some big ups and downs too.

Now on to the next 152.  

On the farm: There was a big pitching performance last night as High-A Aberdeen opened its home season blanking Wilmington 4-0. Right-hander Moisés Chace (say it cha-say), age 20 from Venezuela, pitched four scoreless. But he fanned nine over the first three innings, getting all nine outs via a strikeout. All were swinging.

The Orioles signed Chace for $225,000 in July of 2019. On the MASNSports.com, O's top 20 international prospects list, he was rated No. 9 in 2022, No. 16 in 2023 and was unranked this year. He showed us with a big game for Aberdeen where he allowed three hits in four frames with one walk and nine strikeouts on 62 pitches, 40 for strikes. 

Chace pitched for two seasons at Low-A Delmarva with high walk and strikeout rates. He touched 96 mph with his fastball last summer. Right-hander Juan Nuñez went 4 2/3 scoreless in following Chace. 

Coby Mayo hit a solo homer but Scranton beat Triple-A Norfolk 5-2. The Tides have scored four runs in losing back-to-back games. 

Hartford beat Double-A Bowie 5-4. In that game, catcher Silas Ardoin left the contest in the fourth inning after being hit in the nose by a pitch. He has begun the year 3-for-8. Low-A Delmarva is 0-4 after a loss at home 4-2 to Salem. Catcher Aneudis Mordán, age 19 from the Dominican, has begun the year 6-for-12 with a homer for the Shorebirds.

On maybe his last day ever on the farm, Holliday had a double here and made a nice play on defense in the first inning here. 

Click here and this is great - Holliday as a little guy maybe one day dreaming of the big leagues.