While offense heats up, O's pitching has headed south again

Over the last nine games, the Orioles have scored 55 runs. But they are just 4-5 in that stretch. Over their last nine games the Orioles have allowed 55 runs. Yeah, we have a problem here. Earlier when the Orioles were not hitting much, their pitchers kept them above .500 and went on a pretty good run for several weeks. But now the pitchers are giving up runs in droves. Per usual, when the O's suffer a tough loss, the players get pounded by some on message boards and social media as fans vent and lash out and look to assign blame. T.J. McFarland was getting it for giving up a hit to a pitcher, but Yovani Gallardo was batting .207 with 12 homers and 41 RBIs in 362 at-bats coming into this season. Manager Buck Showalter elected to walk Mark Reynolds in the 10th and Gallardo foiled that strategy. But the O's bullpen was asked to get a lot of outs again as Wei-Yin Chen went just five innings and gave up three homers and five runs. Maybe you should sit down when you read this next part: Over these last nine games, O's starters have pitched a total of 45 1/3 innings with an ERA of 7.94. They've allowed five earned runs or more in six of those nine games. No wonder the O's are 4-5. They've needed all those runs to just get four wins. That is terrible pitching and it followed a stretch when over the previous nine games, O's starters went seven innings or more six times. Where did that starting pitching go? We can look to the O's top two starters for much of the recent issues. Chris Tillman and Ubaldo Jimenez have combined to make four starts in this stretch and have pitched 15 2/3 total innings allowing 24 runs. Wow, that is bad. How is this team 26-24? They were not hitting earlier, were slow to start hitting homers, have had injuries and their starting pitching ERA for the year is now 4.57. In the very short term their bullpen is taxed again and several pitchers, including Zach Britton, could be unavailable for tonight's game or expected to be used very sparingly. The Orioles just can't seem to get on any extended stretch of winning. If it stays that way for the next four months, they probably won't find themselves playing this October. But there is still time to get rolling. The immediate issue is - once again - the starting pitching. Tillman and Jimenez are struggling and Chen has allowed 10 runs his past two starts. At the moment, Miguel Gonzalez and Bud Norris are the best the O's have in their starting five. If Tillman and Jimenez can't turn it around, then even contending could be a stretch for this team, much less playing in October. The Orioles best win of the year has been followed by perhaps their most brutal loss. As the O's offense has finally got it going, the pitchers are struggling again. For those that want to worry, or even panic, the O's staff is providing them ammunition right now.