In O's strong 'pen, Voth and Baumann adjusting to their new roles

To hear O’s right-hander Austin Voth’s take, he is not pitching any differently in his last four games than he was in his first four games of the new season.

But the results have been very different.

“Not really,” Voth said in the clubhouse Wednesday about if he made any in-season adjustments. “I feel like I’ve been the same the whole season so far. Just had trouble early on with some offspeed pitches in the zone that were too much middle, but as a whole I feel I have been pitching about the same.”

But Voth, who allowed one homer in each of his first five bullpen appearances this year, has not allowed any in his last three games. His ERA was 10.50 his first four games and is 2.70 his last four. In that most-recent four-game span he has allowed two runs over 6 2/3 innings giving up a batting average of .208 and OPS against of .564 in that time. He has looked more like the pitcher that threw to an ERA of 3.04 for the Orioles in 2022.

But then he was mostly starting – making 17 of his 22 appearances as a starter. Now he is adjusting to a full-time bullpen role. And the results say the adjustment is starting to take hold.

“It’s a different role and you don’t get as much time to warm up, so you have to find different ways to prepare quicker than usual. And then if I don’t have one of my good breaking balls going, I may have to rely more on a cutter or something else. It is finding what works best that day with what I have.”

Manager Brandon Hyde seems to remain with plenty of confidence in Voth since he did such a good job last year for the team.

“For me a guy that is transitioning back to the bullpen and kind of a rough start with the homer (ball). Like it was one homer an outing. But he threw the ball extremely well (Tuesday against Boston). The curveball is back, that is a separator for him when he has that good curveball. Good curve, good cutter, velo was up again in that outing. That was huge for us, not having to go to other people.”

Voth said he is enjoying the various personalities in the O’s bullpen right now. And he threw some praise Mike Baumann’s way. The right-hander, who began this spring as a rotation candidate, is now thriving in a pen role. Baumann is 2-0 with an ERA of 0.64 and WHIP of 0.86 in 10 games. Over 14 innings he has allowed just one run, with five walks to 13 strikeouts.

“It’s been fun to watch,” Voth said of Baumann. “He’s been laying it on the line. Mike is really settling into his role and has taken some innings for us which is huge and come up big in key moments too. He’s stepping up in a big way.”

Baumann has given up a batting line of .071/.161/.071 (2-for-28) to right-handed batters. Among pitchers facing righties for a minimum of 30 plate appearances, he ranks with the best slugging percentage against, the second-lowest OPS and is third in batting average against.

“You can tell when a manager leans on a certain player that he has trust in him. And Hyde definitely has that trust in Mike. What it comes down to then is throwing strikes and that is what he is doing,” Voth added.

Hyde has seen both Voth and Baumann transition more from starter roles to pen roles this year.

“Sometimes starters go to the bullpen and take to it better,” Hyde said specifically when asked about Baumann. “We brought him into camp as a starter, felt comfortable with the way our rotation was and wanted to see what he looked like in the bullpen. He threw extremely well those last few appearances in spring and made our club. Still kind of adjusting to that bullpen role.”

The O's bullpen lowered its season ERA to 2.78 with 3 1/3 scoreless on Wednesday and that is among the best in the majors.

The O's 'pen has pitched to an ERA of 0.84 in 32 1/3 innings the last nine games. 

The road trip begins: The Orioles have a trio of three-city road trips this year and two are coming much later in the season. The one that begins tonight includes 10 games making it the longest road trip of 2023. The O's will play four games at Detroit, three at Kansas City and three at Atlanta.

They headed out with momentum after Wednesday's 6-2 win where they pitched so much better versus a Boston team that had scored 39 runs in five games this year against the Orioles heading into that game.

They slowed a Boston team that began Wednesday third in MLB in runs and was scoring 6.1 runs per game its previous 12 games.

The Orioles have done some scoring of their own in the season series, putting up 23 runs in three games versus Boston pitching to open the year at Fenway Park and 17 in this series. 

At 16-8, the Orioles have won eight of nine, 10 of 12 and 12 of the last 15 games. 

The Orioles have now won five straight series.