Next Britton challenge: Stop a losing streak

For his first act, Zach Britton beat the defending American League East champions on the road in his major league debut. For his second act, he beat the Texas Rangers, who were 6-0 at the time and had scored 42 runs in those six contests. Britton calmly pitched 7 2/3 scoreless against that tough Texas lineup at Camden Yards in an impressive home debut. For his third act, Britton will try to stop an Orioles' losing streak. Another challenge for the kid. Somehow I suspect he will hold up just fine tonight at Cleveland. At some point, Britton will get hit around by someone. But so far, he is 2-0 with an ERA of 0.66 and has allowed just one run and seven hits over 13 2/3 innings. Seems hard to believe, but at this time last year, Britton was 1-0 with an ERA of 2.61 for the Double-A Bowie Baysox and a few days away from his next start at Akron. He's in Ohio again, but it's not the Eastern League anymore. Britton entered yesterday fourth in the league in ERA, tied for fourth with two wins and with a batting average against of just .159. In those two starts, Britton has allowed just seven hits over 44 at-bats. Right-handed batters are hitting .147 off him at 5-for-34. Lefty batters are at .200, going 2-for-10. When Britton has pitched with runners on base, opponents are just 2-for-20 against him. Watching the Orioles when Britton is on the mound has already become must-see TV. He'll be on MASN2 HD later tonight. If you didn't see this blog I wrote about Britton a week ago, check it out. He gives a lot of credit for his success to minor league instructor Kennie Steenstra, his pitching coach for 63 of his 105 career minor league starts. "He's probably the reason I'm here, for sure," Britton said of Steenstra. You can hear audio of Britton on this topic below. Zach Britton talks about the help he got from Kennie Steenstra by smelewski