Buck Showalter on the September fatigue factor for the offense

The Orioles scored nine runs on Wednesday night against Toronto, ending a 21-game stretch where they scored five or fewer runs. But that did not exactly open the floodgates, as the Orioles have scored just three runs in each of the last two games. It has not been a September to remember for the O's offense. They are scoring just 3.8 runs per game this month, which ties their July output as the worst months of the season for the offense. A common theory is that the players just tired out and they've played too many games. Does manager Buck Showalter think fatigue has been factor in the O's struggles on offense this month? "Oh sure. It's a factor for Boston right now. Everybody is playing with fatigue," Showalter said. "You just don't do this to the human body. But if you look at some games played, it is not always what sets off fatigue. "Why do guys play, say (Matt) Wieters plays more games than the other catcher. Analyze why. Why does (Adam) Jones, why does J.J. (Hardy)? Because they were healthy and they stayed on the field. It's a tribute to them. "A lot of people would do it, if they physically could do it, but they can't stay on the field due to an injury. Matt was third or fourth in innings caught until two guys got hurt. I don't want to penalize them because they have the ability to stay healthy. We got lucky with that. "Fatigue is a factor for every team, but probably is more questionable because of the number of games our guys started and played. But why did they?" The O's team slugging percentage of .401 and OPS of .699 is their second lowest of any month, topping only by the marks of .389 and .681 in July. Going into tonight's game, the Orioles have scored five or fewer runs in 23 of the last 24 games and 19 times have scored four or less.