Brad Brach: "I think my best outings are after I've had rough ones"

KANSAS CITY - It won't surprise anyone to know that reliever Brad Brach can't wait to get back out on the mound. He allowed three runs in the ninth in the Orioles' 7-6 loss to the Nationals Wednesday. It was a second blown save in 10 chances. But he is ready for the next chance.

"Yeah, definitely," Brach said this afternoon. "I think my best outings are after I've had rough ones. So I am just ready to get back out there and put up a zero and hopefully we won't be having these discussions the rest of the time."

In his first 11 games of 2017, Brach pitched 12 innings, allowing no runs on three hits and with a batting average against of .089. In his past eight games, he has pitched seven innings, allowing 11 hits and eight runs for an ERA of 10.29 and with a .367 average against.

Brach was pitching for the fifth time in seven days on Wednesday. Does he ever reach a point where he feels a need to tell manager Buck Showalter he could use a day off?

"I don't know if I've really gotten to the point where I know when to say something or when not to say something. I am not going to make excuses. I felt ready the other night. I was facing some good hitters and I thought I made some good pitches and they just had better at-bats.

"What kept me up a little bit the other night was the at-bat against (Anthony) Rendon. I thought I had him buried 0-2 and just didn't change it up. It is the life of reliever to forget about it and be ready to go the next time."

Brach got last night off, as all the Orioles did with a rainout. We'll see how soon Showalter gets him back out there.

"Sometimes a mental day off is nice. Just kind of forget about it. I saw something about Buck saying he still has confidence in me, which is huge. Stuff like that goes a long way. I feel like I've proven myself as a reliever, and just for a couple of hiccups it isn't going to change anything. Just go put up zero runs next time I pitch," he said.