Where have the O's stolen bases gone?

If it seems like the Orioles are stealing fewer bases recently, they are. In the month of July they had both their fewest number of steals in a single month this season with 10 and also their most caught stealing's with seven.

The Orioles by month this year with steals:

* Got 23-of-26 (.885) in April.

* Got 15-of-21 (.714) in May.

* Got 20-of-24 (.833) in June.

* Got 10-of-17 (.588) in July.

* Have so far 1-of-1 in 12 games in August (1.000).

So, from Opening Day through June, the O's stole 59 bases in 84 games. Since July 1, they have stolen 11 in 37 games. 

So fewer steals recently and a tougher time successfully stealing bases in the last few weeks.

Where did the stolen bases go?

“Well (Jorge) Mateo wasn’t on base as much. Cedric (Mullins) wasn’t on base as much and so those were our two primary base stealers," manager Brandon Hyde said pregame yesterday. "Now Mateo is gone. I think the pitchers, like (the Nats’ Jake) Irvin (Tuesday), did a really good job managing the running game. I think we’ve run into a lot of starters that have been aware and have done a good job.

“But we do need to push the envelope more. It’s a lot easier to run when you have the lead. You can be more aggressive. And we haven’t played very good baseball and haven’t had the lead a lot of nights.

“We hit a lot of homers, so it’s tough to run into an out when we have guys that leave the ballpark for us. But we do need to be more aggressive on the bases at appropriate times.”

Mateo did play just 11 games in July with a .219 on base percentage. Mullins played in 23 games in the month with a .357 on base but also had his slowest month of steals, getting just three in five attempts.

For the year, through Tuesday, the O’s have stolen 70 bases to rank eighth in the AL and they have a success rate of 77.8 percent to rank sixth-best in the AL.

But Hyde’s points are well taken. They have lost more games in this span, been behind more and also lost one of their best base-stealing threats to injury. It has all led to fewer bags stolen by the Orioles since about July 1. 

About last night: With their win last night, 4-1 over the Washington Nationals, the Orioles split a two-game series with the Nats and they split the four-game season series.

They have not lost a season series versus Washington since going 1-5 in 2018. Since 2022, the Orioles have gone 9-3 against Washington and they are now 57-41 in the all-time series which dates to 2006.

Gunnar Henderson smoked a ball 113.1 mph to right-center for a two-run shot and 2-0 lead in the first which was his 30th home run. Gunnar crushed a first-pitch fastball and hit it 419 feet. He and Anthony Santander joined Aaron Judge and Juan Soto as the only pair of teammates to hit 30 or more so far this season.

Righty Dean Kremer allowed just one run over six innings on 92 pitches to pick up his first win since July 3. Kremer entered his outing last night with an ERA of 6.14 his past six starts.

Third baseman Coby Mayo singled to left in the fifth inning for his first big league hit after starting 0-for-16 with the Orioles. Mayo also drew a walk and this marked his second MLB game reaching base twice. 

Jackson Holliday singled in a run when the O's scored twice in the seventh. Holliday has nine RBIs his last 11 games since Aug. 2 - the most by an Oriole in that span.

In 13 games since rejoining the Orioles, Holliday is batting .255/.314/.596/.909 with a double, five homers and 13 RBIs.

Tonight the O's welcome Boston to town. The Red Sox (63-56) are in third in the AL East, 7.5 games back of the Yankees. Boston lost to Texas last night, its fifth loss in the last seven games. The Red Sox are 10-14 since the All-Star break and are 1-5 this year versus the Orioles.