Some ways for Orioles to make their lives easier

The Orioles conclude their short series against the Nationals tonight trying for a split after going 5-5 on their road trip. They’ve followed a 12-13 July with a 5-6 August.

They can’t run away from the field and they haven’t surrendered huge chunks of real estate. Playing .500 ball might be good enough to host a playoff series.

No one is recommending mediocrity as a game plan. “Win as many as you lose for the Gipper” is an entirely different speech.  Also makes for a less inspiring movie.

Suggestions to simplify life for the Orioles come across as painfully obvious, but don’t let that stop us.

* Resolve the late relief.

So much easier said than done, of course.

The Orioles planned on having Craig Kimbrel close, the reason why they’re paying him $13 million, with leads passed to him primarily by Yennier Cano, Jacob Webb, Danny Coulombe and Cionel Pérez. But Kimbrel hit a second rough patch and hasn’t been trusted with a save situation since July 25. His ERA is 5.87 and his WHIP 2.217 since the break, and opponents are batting .267 with an .829 OPS compared to .150 and .520 in the first half.

When is a reset no longer just a reset?

Coulombe might not return until late September after undergoing surgery to remove bone chips in his elbow. Pérez has allowed six runs and walked six batters in eight innings since the break, with six hits and six strikeouts. But no home runs in 2024. Good thing it isn’t also six.

Cano had a 2.79 ERA and .229 average against in the first half, but he’s registered a 3.68 ERA and .313 opponents’ average in the second.

The Orioles haven’t publicly named Seranthony Domínguez their closer but actions speak loudly. He’s surrendered one run and four hits and struck out nine batters in eight innings since the trade, and he recorded a save in St. Petersburg.

Left-hander Gregory Soto has retired the six batters he’s faced over his last two appearances. The leverage was pretty low last night with the Orioles down 7-2 in the seventh, but it’s still encouraging.

* Trevor Rogers and Dean Kremer must step up.

Pitchers will tell you that they can’t put more pressure on themselves to fill the spikes of injured teammates, and they aren’t wrong. However, the Orioles can’t lean so heavily on Corbin Burnes and Zach Eflin as their top two starters and assume that Albert Suárez won’t regress.

Suárez has become more than just a good story, but let’s not be blind to the gap between seasons in the majors and the periods this summer when media and fans wondered if he should get bumped from the rotation. The Orioles can’t lay too much on his shoulders and be supremely confident that he won’t buckle.

Maybe he won’t, but what track record are we working with here?

Rogers was charged with five runs in five-plus innings last night and has allowed 12 earned runs and 13 total with 20 hits in 14 1/3 innings since the Marlins trade. He was removed against the Nationals with no outs in the sixth in large part because he had reached the third time through the order. That's what you do with starters at the back of the rotation.

Kremer, who starts tonight, has allowed nine runs and 10 hits and walked seven batters in two starts this month totaling 9 1/3 innings. One of his seven starts since returning from the injured list qualifies as quality, with one earned run (four total) over six innings against the Padres. He’s 0-4 with a 5.66 ERA and 1.597 WHIP in four starts in the second half.

Can he be better? Yes, we’ve seen it many times. For example, he posted a 3.25 ERA in 14 post-break starts last season and opponents batted .218. That’s what the Orioles need out of Kremer.

The results don’t always match the stuff that he brings into a game. He can get hurt by soft contact. We’ve seen that many times, as well.

* Keep getting more offense from Adley Rutschman.

Talk of Rutschman in the Most Valuable Player race cooled last month with the All-Star catcher batting .132/.258/.224 with three extra-base hits in 21 games. He’s 11-for-33 (.333) with three doubles and a triple in August after he singled twice last night.

Rutschman doubled twice, singled and drove in a run Saturday night at Tropicana Field. He has three multi-hit games this month after a stretch without any since July 9. He hadn’t collected more than two hits since going 5-for-5 on June 21 in Houston.

“It was great to see Rutsch get those three hits,” said co-hitting coach Ryan Fuller. “It’s been a while since he had a three-hit game, four-hit game. But really, his swing has been in a really nice spot for us. And we talked about it with him.

“It’s more just like timing, and timing’s an easy thing to say, but that usually comes from approach and what pitch you want going into that at-bat. And what he did, what you guys saw so much in the early part of the year, was hammering fastballs, being ready for the fastest pitch that the pitcher was going to throw. And (Saturday) night, that hit that he had early on to center field, 98 up on the zone, stayed on it really well after being a little late. Just calibrating really quick to the velocity and being ready to the velocity and being ready for that. Hardest pitch that he’s going to see, that’s usually where Adley has success because he’s so good at adjusting to the soft stuff.”

* Slow down the opponents’ running game.

Speed bumps aren’t allowed in the current Collective Bargaining Agreement. Too bad.

Rutschman has thrown out 12 of 74 runners attempting to steal (16 percent) The league average was 22 percent yesterday. James McCann is 10-for-38 (26 percent).

Credit and blame can’t be aimed only at the catchers, no matter which team. The pitchers need to give them a chance by holding runners and being quicker to the plate.

Burnes could win another Cy Young Award this season. To find fault with him requires some serious digging. But he’s allowed 33 steals in 37 attempts. The Rays weren’t even pretending to hold their ground.

Kimbrel has allowed 11 steals in 12 attempts, including four Sunday in the eighth inning. A double steal set up the tie-breaking sacrifice fly.

Fans came to a baseball game and a track meet broke out.

The damage done hasn’t kept the Orioles from posting, depending on the day, the best or one of the best records in baseball. However, a run surrendered could cost them a critical game later in the season or in the playoffs.

* Get healthy and stay healthy.

There might not be another team that’s set up next month to get as big a bump as the Orioles.

They’re counting on having Grayson Rodriguez back in the rotation by late September, infielder Jordan Westburg in the lineup and Coulombe in the bullpen. And Webb should be available sooner after tests on his “barking” right elbow, as Mike Elias described it, didn’t reveal any structural damage.

The trick for the Orioles is to add these guys to the roster without losing someone else. That’s been an issue this season. A “welcome back” followed by a “whoops.”