Remember all the O's offense we were talking about just a few games ago? It has taken a vacation recently.
Coming into the Detroit series last weekend, the Orioles were batting .311 in their previous 19 games and scoring 5.6 runs per game in that stretch. In the eight games since then, the O's are batting just .235 and scoring only 3.6 runs per game. They have scored four runs or less in six of their last seven games.
Remember all the runs the O's had been getting against Tampa Bay? They scored 54 in the first nine games between the teams this year. They have one run on six hits total in this weekend series.
Remember when the Orioles had the longest streak in the majors with at least two extra-base hits in 34 straight games, easily the longest streak in the majors this year? The O's have one double in this series.
Remember all those homers? The O's have not hit even one the last three games.
Now the O's have to try and get that offense going today against Matt Moore, who is 8-1 with an ERA of 2.95.
Here is an interesting note from the draft. The Orioles selected a lot of tall pitchers. Of the 23 hurlers they drafted, 16 are 6-foot-3 or taller.
Here the heights of some of the drafted pitchers:
6-foot-9: Dylan Rheault (round 19), Augey Bill (round 39)
6-foot-6: Dustin Hagy (round 31), Parker Bugg (round 34)
6-foot-5: Mitch Horacek (round 9), Jon Keller (round 22), Robert Tyler (round 28), Garrett Cortright (round 40).
Both first-round pick Hunter Harvey and fifth-rounder Travis Seabrooke are listed at 6-foot-4. The O's were not drafting for an NBA team, but all the size is interesting and one wonders if it were somewhat by design. Get some guys with big frames, pitching with strong downward planes, and guys that could add weight and bulk to lean frames to help increase their velocity.
It's something worth asking scouting director Gary Rajsich about during our next interview.
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