The offense was slowed as the road trip began

They scored eight runs and produced a walk-off win on Wednesday night at home. But as a seven-game road trip began last night, the Baltimore offense was held in check as Detroit beat the Orioles 6-2.

The Birds were held to four hits in 29 at-bats, had just one extra-base hit, no RBIs and went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

Detroit right-hander Casey Mize, the player taken No. 1 overall in the 2018 draft, shut down the Baltimore batters allowing just one unearned run over seven innings.

But in sizing up his hitters last night, while passing on credit to Mize, O's manager Brandon Hyde said his batters could have done a better job.

"I'm disappointed in our approach tonight a little bit," Hyde said in his postgame Zoom session with reporters. "It's something we talked about before the game. Casey Mize's got a really good arm, he's got good stuff. He really runs the ball into right-handers. I think, for the most part, our approaches have been pretty good, but tonight we chased balls in. Something he likes to do, crowd hitters. We kept on swinging at it there and a lot of jammed balls to the right side."

So this was a night when the O's didn't make the best swing decisions and the hitters may not grade out that well. And Hyde told us this week the big league hitters do get grades on their daily swing decisions.

On the farm this year that term, swing decisions, is used often. O's minor league hitters are focused on getting hittable pitches and putting their A swing on the ball when they get one. There is less chasing of pitches and even less swinging at inside and outside corner pitches that may be strikes but aren't as hittable as that middle-middle ball.

Double-A Bowie, for instance, leads its 12-team league in both on-base percentage and walks. High Single-A Aberdeen ranks third in both OBP and walks, and low Single-A Delmarva is third in both categories.

The progress is clearly there.

But at the big league level, the Orioles rank 12th in the American League in OBP at .303. And where they once ranked among the league leaders in strikeouts, they have the ninth-most this year, so there is small progress there. They have drawn only the 12th-most walks, however, so plenty of room to grow there.

A major league hitter is going to be, in most cases, older and more established as a hitter than a minor league up-and-comer. Maybe the big leaguer is kind of set in his ways, so to speak. Despite that, Hyde said this week the club does grade Orioles players on whether they are swinging at the right pitches, just as the Orioles affiliates do.

"Yeah, definitely. They go over daily with a lot of our hitters, the previous night's swing decisions," he said earlier this week. "Break down at-bats, break down pitches, break down the count. Kind of almost give a grade on how they performed the night before from a swing-decision standpoint. Lot of variables that go along with it, but that is something that Don (Long, hitting coach) does with our hitters. It is something important here: how we are managing the strike zone."

So is it indeed harder to work with a 26- or 28-year-old major league player on a swing decision than, say, a 22-year-old kid who is still developing at, say, Bowie?

"I think it's harder from the standpoint of there is more pressure to perform here and you're facing major league pitching and trying to perform here," said Hyde. "And when you are in the minor leagues, you are still developing. There's some patience. You know they are trying to perform at seven o'clock too, but they are working on things as well. Big leagues, it's about performance, and that plays a big part into it.

"That being said, we still have younger players here that, players are getting younger to the big leagues that are developing while they are here. So that is still a big part of what we are trying to teach here. Which is managing the strike zone against sometimes elite pitching. Like the guy we faced (Tuesday night, Miami's Sandy Alcantara). If you swing at pitches on the edges there, you're going to be out. You really have to get him in the middle of the plate. You can't chase. ... We're getting better, but we're not quite there yet."

On the farm Thursday: Triple-A Norfolk won the first three games of its series this week with first-place Durham. But the Tides lost 8-2 yesterday to fall to 28-44. Ryan Ripken singled in a run and Robert Neustrom added a sac fly.

Double-A Bowie beat Richmond 5-4 as Patrick Dorrian hit two solo homers and now has 15 on the year. Greg Cullen added a two-run double and Richie Martin began a rehab stint with the Baysox, going 1-for-4. Right-hander Kyle Brnovich allowed two hits and two runs in four innings and has a 2.77 ERA in six games. Bowie has won 10 of its last 14 games and is 43-30.

High Single-A Aberdeen lost 5-3 at home to Bowling Green. Jordan Westburg hit a solo home run, No. 6. Shayne Fontana added an RBI triple for Aberdeen, now 38-36.

Low Single-A Delmarva lost 6-4 at Fredericksburg. Cristopher Cespedes had a two-run double for the Shorebirds, who are now 42-32.