The Orioles starting pitching takes a turn for the worse

With a record of 55-53 now two-thirds into the 2015 season, the Orioles are on a low 80s win pace. That is probably not going to be enough for this team to return to the playoffs. Whatever momentum the Orioles carried out of Oakland didn't show up when they arrived in Anaheim. They lost the series opener 8-4 last night to the Angels.

The Orioles have been nothing if not inconsistent this year. From individual players to the team, there always seems to be some area of the team that is very inconsistent.

Most recently it has been the starting pitchers yet again. On the night of Wednesday July 29 at Camden Yards, Chris Tillman pitched 8 2/3 scoreless innings in a 2-0 win over Atlanta. At that point, over the previous six games, O's starting pitchers were 4-0 with a 1.25 ERA, five quality starts and the team went 5-1.

But in the eight games since then, O's starting pitchers have pitched to an ERA of 7.07, allowing five or more runs four times. O's starters have pitched fewer than six innings six times in that stretch with just two quality starts. The team is 4-4 in those eight games. Yep, inconsistent.

Kevin Gausman allowed six runs over 5 2/3 innings Friday night in what was a very disappointing outing for the right-hander. He had given up just two runs in 14 2/3 in his previous two starts. But last night, he lost leads twice.

After he threw some solid changeups early in that game, he seemed to be heavily reliant on his fastball as the game went on and the pitch simply found the middle of the plate too often. It was not a good start for him or a good start for the team in a series against another AL playoff contender.

Tonight the Orioles need a big effort and bounce-back outing from Ubaldo Jimenez (8-7, 4.04 ERA). He is 1-3 with a 10.61 ERA in four second-half starts. He has allowed first inning runs in each of those four games. Tonight would be a great time for him to begin to return to his form before the All-Star game when he pitched to an ERA of 2.81.

More notes on the Orioles:

* The Orioles season-long struggles in the first game of a series continued last night. They are now 17-21 on the year in series openers. They are 2-5 in such games in the second-half and 3-8 in the last 11 series-opening games.

* Orioles starting pitchers have gone less than six innings in 29 of 54 games since June 6.

* Jonathan Schoop is 11-for-21 (.524) during a six-game hitting streak with three doubles, a homer and two RBIs. He is slugging .810 in that stretch with an OPS of 1.355. He has raised his average from .256 to .306 during this span.

* Over his last nine games, Matt Wieters is batting .364 (12-for-33) with three doubles, two homers and four RBIs. He has raised his average from .234 to .264 in that stretch.