The O's pitching has stepped up in the Yankees series

The Orioles have gotten plenty of attention for their homer prowess. They began play last night leading the majors in homers and in homers per game. They had hit at least one homer in 21 of their 28 games and went 15-6 in those.

But in this series with the New York Yankees, the Baltimore pitching has led the way to wins by 2-0 and 4-2.

The O’s staff saw a pair of ninth-inning leads get away over the weekend versus Oakland. But the last two nights, lefty Danny Coulombe picked up his third career save and last night right-hander Jacob Webb fanned three in getting the last four outs to record his fifth career save.

Webb’s five career saves have come for three different clubs, with three for Atlanta and one each for the Angels and Orioles. His last before last night was June 15, 2023 for the Angels at Texas.

Against the Yankees Webb got seven whiffs on nine swings. That was big-time swing and miss stuff in that outing and now, over 13 1/3 innings he has a 2.03 ERA, 0.90 WHIP and .191 batting average against.

Right-hander Dean Kremer gave the Orioles their fourth start this season of seven innings and allowed just two runs in the win. Kremer, now 2-2 with a 4.19 ERA, threw 93 pitches.

The Yankees Juan Soto hit a 447-foot homer off Kremer in the sixth and then stared Kremer down a couple of times and rounded the bases with exuberance as if he had put his team ahead. But they trailed 4-2 at the time. I still have not figured out exactly what was going on there and why Soto did what he did. Not sure what had him apparently agitated.

The Orioles flip the calendar to May today with a 19-10 record, with 14 wins their past 20 games and leading the AL East by one game over New York.

“I think we’re off to a good start,” manager Brandon Hyde said before last night’s game of his team’s play thus far. “I think we have room to grow and there are areas where we can improve. I know our offensive numbers are good and I think that is going to continue and we have room to grow on the mound still. We’ve made some mistakes defensively that we are not going to over the course of the summer. I’m happy with the start we’ve had and just want to continue to get better over the course of the year.”

A lot of talk before last night’s game was centered on Gunnar Henderson’s amazing start for the club and how he is helping the O’s win games with his bat, his glove and his speed.

"Just the whole package,” said Hyde of Henderson who drove in his 24th run last night. “I mean the defense he is playing too, what he's doing on the bases. He’s gone left-on-left, base hits the other way. Just yeah, for me there are not many (who can impact a game as many ways as Henderson).

“That’s why he's getting talked about. I turn on the TV, (have) seen a lot of Gunnar Henderson nationally which is awesome. Credit to him, he deserves it. He’s so down to earth and he’s so modest, but he is also super confident. And I don’t think this is surprising him. I think he believes this is how he should be playing."

In the last two games of their weekend series versus Milwaukee, New York scored 30 runs with 37 hits including seven homers. In the first two games of this series, they have two runs on 12 hits and are 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

The O's starters have thrown 12 2/3 this series allowing two runs while the Baltimore bullpen has thrown 5 1/3 scoreless. Coming into the series the O's 'pen has allowed runs in 13 of the previous 16 games.

The Orioles have now gone 16 straight series without losing one in AL East play. They were 11-0-4 the past 15 division series heading into this one and now they have ensured they will at least split these four games.

Right-hander Corbin Burnes (3-0, 2.55 ERA) gets the start for the Birds tonight. In his only previous game versus the Yankees, last Sept. 10 in the Bronx, he pitched eight no-hit, no-run innings.

Burnes, in six career starts against AL East clubs, is 3-0 with a 1.27 ERA allowing just 17 hits over 42 2/3 innings. In his only AL East game this year he allowed just one run over seven innings at Boston on April 9.