Burnes on his September cutter and Ragans on his rocky start vs. Orioles

As he goes into start Game 1 of the American League Wild Card Series on Tuesday, the Orioles are delighted to see what happened to right-hander Corbin Burnes in August was very different over the last month.

He struggled over five August starts, allowing 28 runs in 25 2/3 innings. But he gave up just five runs in 30 September innings. 

Burnes in August: 7.36 ERA and .827 OPS against.

Burnes in September: 1.20 ERA and .512 OPS against.

Over his past three starts against playoff teams, two against the Tigers and one versus the Yankees, Burnes allowed one run and seven hits over 19 innings.

“We made a couple of mechanical tweaks,” he said during a press conference today at Oriole Park. “Changed the shape of the cutter a little bit. It’s no secret that the cutter kind of drives my game. We made some good changes and we did pretty good with it. The results have been showing pretty well in September so we’re in a good spot.”

His cutter was extremely effective in his start in New York on Thursday versus the Yankees when he got 10 whiffs on 24 swings against that pitch.

“I would say the month of (September) was good," said Burnes. “Yeah, the cutter is in a good spot. When I go out and command it, obviously that’s what I do. When I command the cutter, I can throw everything else off of it and I tend to have good results off of that. We were able to make that change in September. We had five starts in September and they were all pretty good.”

Burnes went 1-0 with a 3.97 ERA this season against Kansas City. In five career starts, he is 3-0 with a 2.15 ERA versus the Royals. 

O's face Ragans: The Orioles will face Kansas City lefty Cole Ragans (11-9, 3.14 ERA) in Game 1 tomorrow afternoon.

In April, he had two very different starts versus the Orioles. On April 3, he pitched 6 1/3 scoreless on one hit. But 17 days later at Kauffman Stadium, he allowed seven runs and nine hits in just 1 1/3 innings.

It tied for the most runs he allowed in a game this year, but the other game where he gave up seven runs – on May 11 – he went 6 1/3 against the Angels. That start against the Orioles was easily his shortest outing of the year, the next shortest was a four-inning game.

It’s a big outlier on a pitching record where Ragans ranks eighth in the AL in ERA and first with 10.8 strikeouts per nine innings.

“I don’t forget the second one,” he said today when asked about his two starts versus the Orioles. “Prepare the same way. I do my reports, do my studying, that kind of stuff. Just the fact of execution. It’s the playoffs, everybody is good.”

Later during his press conference, Ragans was asked again about that poor start against Baltimore.

“I wouldn’t say (I will have) extra motivation, I’m going to prepare the same,” he said. “Especially feel like, the postseason, it’s going to be loud, you’re going to have nerves. Try not to do too much. I’m not going to go out there with the mindset of thinking about what happened that day, but yeah, you don’t forget. Just wasn’t a good day that day. Didn’t execute. I don’t think it’s going to effect how I prepare or anything.”

So Ragans is 0-1 with a 7.88 ERA against the Orioles over those two outings. He ended the year tied with Detroit's Tarik Skubal for first in the AL in swing-and-miss percentage at 32.0.

In four September starts, Ragans, like Burnes, was rolling, going 1-0 with a 1.08 ERA and 1.000 WHIP.

The Royals, who scored just 20 runs their last 11 games, could be getting a big bat back for this series in Vinnie Pasquantino.

He has been out with a fractured right thumb since Aug. 30. Rain at Camden Yards today canceled any chance he could face pitching on the field. During the regular season over 131 games, Pasquantino hit 19 homers with 97 RBIs and a .760 OPS.

“We were hoping to get a live BP in with him today, but we’re not going to be able to do that,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “So we’ll simulate it the best we can – not off live pitching but in the cage. And we’ll see how he comes out of that in the morning before we make our (roster) decision.”