Cano gets his season back on track

Orioles right-handed reliever Yennier Cano is a pretty important pitcher in the Baltimore bullpen. He has three saves this season but has made most of his appearances as a setup man in the eighth inning.

While some numbers for him are not as good as last season when he was an American League All-Star, he recently made a few tweaks that helped him find his sinker again. He’s now put together six straight scoreless outings through last night’s game. (Although he did allow two inherited runners to score and gave up a double when he entered with two on in the eighth last night.) 

His ERA (2.11 to 2.75), WHIP (1.00 to 1.32) and his opponent's OPS (.600 to .703) are higher this year. But Cano does lead the AL with 24 holds. And his 116 appearances since the start of 2023 are tied for fourth-most in the major leauges.

But from June 14 to 28, he allowed five runs and six hits in 3 1/3 innings. However, in his last six games over 5 2/3 combined innings, he has allowed just three hits with a .158 batting average and .449 OPS against.

“I’ve been able to recover my sinker,” he told me during the last homestand through team interpreter Brandon Quinones. “I think a few weeks ago I lost it a little bit. And then these last few outings I have back that feeling with it and it’s a huge factor in my recent success.

“I think it was a mechanical issue that was going on. I was working with the pitching coaches and they showed me some videos from last year. We were trying to work to get back to that point to doing some of the things I was doing last year and I think recently I have been able to get back to some of that and am having big success with my sinker again.”

That is a pivotal pitch for Cano, which leads to his ranking in the 100^th percentile in groundball rate (68.6), according to Statcast.

“Even when I don’t have success out there, I still have a lot of confidence in myself,” Cano said. “Even if one pitch is not working I know I can still work with my slider, my changeup, with any other pitch that is working right now. Even if I have a bad outing, I come out the next day with a confident mindset believing I can get can the job done."

This time last year was pretty special for Cano, making the All-Star team after pitching to an 11.50 ERA the season before between the Twins and Orioles.

“It was a surprise for me. I was not really expecting it," he said. "But it was one of the nicest things I have ever experienced in baseball. Leading up to it, people told me you had a good shot, but a lot of relief pitchers don’t make it to the All-Star Game. So I really wasn’t expecting it for myself. But I knew I had broken some records starting out the season. But was just really thankful I had that chance."

Chance for a sweep in Texas: After scoring a combined 17 runs in games started by Nate Eovaldi and Max Scherzer, the O's can sweep their three-game series in Texas this afternoon.

They hit four homers in Friday's 9-1 win over the Rangers and added three more in last night's 8-4 victory. Cedric Mullins hit No. 10, a solo shot, while Jordan Westburg's 16th was a two-run homer and Ryan O'Hearn hit No. 12, a solo blast in the ninth.

So the Birds have 23 hits and seven homers to start the second half. In the first five games of their pre-All Star break homestand, they scored four runs total. Now they have scored 23 in the last three games. 

They are now back above 5.00 runs per game at 5.01.

With a rotation ERA of 8.50 the previous eight games as this series began, Corbin Burnes and Grayson Rodriguez have combined to allow three runs and five hits over 12 innings this series. 

Combined with the Yankees' loss Saturday, the Orioles (60-38) lead the AL East by two games.