Orioles aren't catching breaks with Rays in town

The hard part of the schedule just got a little harder.

Goodbye Braves, with your best record in the National League. Hello Rays, with your best record in baseball at 28-7 and obscene plus-115 run differential.

Maybe a lot harder.

The division is out of control. Boston used to be in last place with a record above .500. They won eight in a row before yesterday’s loss in Philadelphia and moved into third place, until the Blue Jays passed them by blowing out the Pirates.

The Yankees are in the cellar but a game above .500. Four of the five teams have 20 wins or more.

Let’s get weird.

"The AL East is still a beast," said pitcher Tyler Wells, "and we're competing with the best of them."

“I wonder if we’ve all played out of the division so much the first month,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “I don’t know. I just know all the teams in this division are really good and all playing really well right now, it seems like. It’s going to be a challenge all year long, and I think the rest of the league is going to see how good our division is up close.”

It could get personal.

The Orioles went 7-3 against Tampa Bay at home last season but 2-7 on the road. They trail the all-time series 208-231, but that’s due to a 94-125 record at Tropicana Field.

They get past the Braves’ assortment of low-ERA starters and must face All-Star and Baltimore native Shane McClanahan, who’s 6-0 and has allowed nine runs with 51 strikeouts in 40 innings.

“And we get Ohtani,” Hyde said, laughing as he looked ahead to next week’s Angels series. Beats crying.

“There are no breaks,” he said. “There are so many good starters out there right now. … There’s no breaks, but really happy with how our guys have competed up to this point.”

McClanahan has made seven career starts against the Orioles and gone 5-0 with a 2.45 ERA and 1.091 WHIP in 40 1/3 innings. And he used to have a Cal Ripken Jr. poster on his wall, which you’ll probably hear about again this week.

I wonder if it was the milk growth chart. Anyway …

The Orioles have won 22 of their 34 games and suffered two late-inning, one-run losses in Atlanta. I keep hearing how 88 wins should get them in the playoffs. So, they’re about a quarter of the way there, which is why it’s so wrong to dismiss the “soft” part of the schedule as if it doesn’t really count.

Bank those wins while enjoying life on the other side. Makes it easier to weather the losing streaks that are bound to come.

This team seems equipped to keep them shorter than in the past.

The starters must get deeper in games, however. The collective 172 innings are tied for 20^th in the majors. The ERA is 25^th at 5.39.

Hyde is right to be careful with his relievers, especially this early in the season. It’s all hands on deck later. Not now.

Workload management is part of Hyde’s job.

Yennier Cano threw an inning in Game 2 of the April 29 doubleheader in Detroit and 1 1/3 the following day. He worked an inning Tuesday in Kansas City and a season-high two innings with a season-high 32 pitches on Thursday.

The Orioles are trying to win every game, but they’d rather not blow out a guy’s arm while doing it. And Cano is an essential part of the ‘pen. They can’t afford to have him go on the shelf.

“We have five months to go,” Hyde said Saturday night, “so health is important and not overusing guys is important.”

I don’t see how anyone can argue this point. And Cano, available yesterday, retired all six batters he faced.

Not with a lead. I know. But he gave the Orioles a chance, if they hadn't gone 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position - like they did April 15 in Chicago - and failed to score in the 11th and 12th.

Hyde said upcoming opponents and series don’t influence how his bullpen is utilized.

“We’re going to try to win the game,” Hyde said yesterday. “Me not using Cano (Saturday) night was a product of, after that game in Kansas City, me telling him and us all talking that we’re going to give this guy two days off. It’s for a lot of reasons. You want to keep your bullpen guys as fresh as possible. That’s always going to be a challenge.”

Bryan Baker’s scoreless innings streak ended at 15 2/3 innings Saturday when he left an inherited runner for Danny Coulombe and Kevin Pillar hit a two-run homer. But Baker allowed a hit and walked two batters to load the bases Thursday in Kansas City, retiring only one batter. Coulombe struck out two to strand the runners.

Baker allowed two hits and walked a batter Saturday. Hyde wasn’t going to use him yesterday.

Anthony Santander finally heated up with six-straight multi-hit games, the longest streak in the majors this season and longest by an Oriole since shortstop José Iglesias had seven in a row from Aug. 15-Sept. 2, 2020.

Santander produced multiple extra-base hits in back-to-back games. Only four Orioles have done it in three straight: Frank Robinson (four and three), Eddie Murray (three), Javy López (three) and Cedric Mullins (three).

“He just seems more on time with the fastball,” Hyde said. “He just missed that one off (Spencer) Strider (Saturday) night in the first at-bat. That’s the only thing I see is that he is ready for the fastball, he’s not late, not popping it up, not getting beat.”

“My body feels much better,” Santander said after going 2-for-4 with an RBI to raise his average to .264 with a .795 OPS. “Been working with the hitting coaches, swinging at better pitches, too. Hopefully, we can continue to do that.”