O's head to Texas looking for improved pitching and defense and a series win

There are certainly a few things to clean up as the Orioles play at Texas tonight in their second series of the year. They scored 23 runs in three games at Boston, but allowed nine runs three straight games and no one thinks that is nearly good enough or close to it from the mound.

The O’s defense was shaky for three days in Boston, particularly in the outfield and there was not nearly enough pitching or defense to start the 2023 season. An out away, a catch away, from a 2-0 record on Saturday, instead the Orioles are 1-2 heading to play Texas.

"We swung the bat well enough (to win), but we've got to pitch and play defense and we didn't have our best series on the mound or defensively," manager Brandon Hyde said. "Those are two things we've got to do better to win series' in this league."

The Orioles won 10-9 Thursday before 9-8 and 9-5 losses in the last two games as the teams combined for 50 runs and 74 hits in the series.

The O’s had 10 hits or more each game, producing 38 in the series with nine doubles, seven homers and 10 stolen bases. They are batting .339/.426/.607/1.033 as team right now.

But the starting rotation covered just 12 innings in Boston, allowing 20 hits and 15 runs for an ERA of 11.25. The bullpen ERA through one series is 5.93. The team ERA is 8.42.

Just three teams since 1901 have scored nine or more runs in each of their first three games and Boston became No. 3 on Sunday. It happened also to the Orioles when the 1978 edition allowed 40 runs in the opening series at Milwaukee.

The pitching and defense will obviously get better and Birdland would be okay with that starting to show itself tonight. The outfield defense is much better than what we saw in Boston.

Center fielder Cedric Mullins has begun the year going 5-for-13 at Fenway Park with two homers and seven RBIs. He went 3-for-3 against lefty pitching with a homer and five RBIs. His latest hit off a southpaw was a two-run single off Richard Bleier in the seventh inning yesterday. Last year Mullins batted .209 with a .578 OPS against left-handers.

"Been really solid, just the results I've been looking for," Mullins said. "All the work, focusing on hitting lefties this offseason and also bringing the confidence that I know I have had success in the past, and just kind of tying it all together."

Tonight in the series opener at Texas, right-hander Kyle Bradish (4-7, 4.90 ERA last year) pitches against right-hander Jon Gray (7-7, 3.96 ERA). Bradish produced a 1.402 WHIP last season with a 3.5 walk rate and 8.5 strikeout rate. 

After coming off the injured list late last July - he was out due to right shoulder inflammation - Bradish had a strong finish to his season. He was 3-3 with a 3.28 ERA and .607 OPS over 13 games. In his last eight starts of 2022, he was 3-2 with a 2.76 ERA, four quality starts and a .500 OPS against.

That included a few stunning performances. On Aug. 26 he went eight innings on two hits and no runs allowed at Houston and followed that up throwing seven scoreless at Cleveland. Then on Sept. 22 he went 8 2/3 scoreless again against Houston.

The O's could use a performance like that tonight as they try to move on from a disappointing series in Boston and get their second series off to a good start tonight. 

Tides with a sweep: Triple-A Norfolk got two-run homers from Jordan Westburg, Connor Norby and Ryan O'Hearn in a 7-4 win at Durham. That is a season-opening, three-game sweep by a 26-12 score. Norfolk hit nine homers and had a team OPS of .940 this series. Spenser Watkins allowed three runs over five innings to win it and Nick Vespi got a save.

Norby has hit six homers in 12 career Triple-A games. Norfolk's home opener is tomorrow at Harbor Park with lefty DL Hall on the mound.