With his fourth team this year, Matt Bowman made seamless transition with the O's

Orioles reliever Matt Bowman has made a nice first impression with the Orioles in his first few games with the team. As it turns out, they made a real nice first impression on him too.

Bowman has thrown 20 1/3 innings this year, but for four different major league teams. The Maryland native knows something about starting over with a new club, and he really likes the way the O’s pitching coaches basically have let him do his thing so far.

The results are quite good. He got five big outs in Tuesday’s win at Los Angeles and was not scored on with the Orioles until his fifth outing, on Thursday at Dodger Stadium.

In 5 1/3 innings with the club he’s allowed two hits and one run with a 0.94 WHIP and .111 batting average against. He’s also stranded three inherited runners.

His wild ride this year began when he signed with the Twins in January. Arizona picked him up in a cash deal May 2. He was granted free agency several times this year through various opt-outs. In late May he refused a minors assignment with Arizona and wound up with Seattle. They released him, and on July 4 Minnesota signed him again, then released him on Aug. 12. The O’s got him three days later.

He got into five games in April with Minnesota, four with Arizona in May and one with Seattle in June.

In his first interview with Baltimore reporters he mentioned that, "You get to a new org and things are slightly different, and sometimes you want to do what the org values. And you try to turn yourself into that. I think realizing what your individual identity is, is sort of something that I’ve learned.”

If there is any player that has knowledge about joining a new team, it's Bowman.

And being true to himself and keeping his pitching identity has been easy, he said, as an Oriole.

“It seems like their onboarding process is really smooth and thoughtful,” he told me at Dodger Stadium this week. “They made sure to understand how it is that I want to go about my business. I think, subtly maybe, they are nudging me in directions or emphasizing like, ‘That thing that you do, we think that will work.’

“So, it seems like they refined that process in a way that maybe makes it so a player doesn’t have to think about it. But again, it’s early, but that would be my guess as to what’s happening right now. Either way it is certainly seamless, which is what you want.”

Bowman so far is attacking hitters just as he wants and he is not with a club wanting him to do it “their way.”

“That is right,” he said. “Maybe as a fit it is really good. Every bullpen is constructed where maybe you need a certain guy. I am one type of guy and certainly not another type of (high-velocity) guy. It’s a good fit in that sense. A good style of pitching where there is no need to change too much.

“It is not to say that other orgs were trying to change too much, but sometimes you lose the forest for the trees when you go to a new place. And especially when you have bounced around a lot. Sometimes you think, 'I need to be the exact person that they want.' Just because you are really trying to stick.”

Bowman is making it work right now with a fastball that averages 92.2 mph. With that two-seamer he also mixes in a sweeper, cutter and split finger.

“I’m not your typical reliever," he said. "I’m not the archetype of today’s reliever. So I think I value that I can be adaptable and adjustable, but in a perfect world you are a (Seranthony) Domínguez or (Yennier) Cano. You do what you do and it’s dominant and you don’t really have to make huge adjustments. Where for me, it is not that.”

With his fourth team, the native of Chevy Chase, Md. hopes he has found a home.

“So far it seems fantastic. I’ve been to a lot of different organizations, and here the process is excellent, The onboarding was good. And I think they sort of meet you where you are. They understand the type of pitcher you are, the type of person you are, and they’ll give you as much or as little as you like. My impressions so far of the Orioles are really positive."   

Rocky Mountain win: Big Al Suárez came up big for the Orioles again Friday as they beat Colorado 5-3. He allowed two runs over a career-high seven innings on 95 pitches.

In his last five starts, Suárez is 2-0 with a 1.19 ERA and 0.99 WHIP with three quality starts. He's allowed four runs in 30 1/3 innings in this stretch, allowing five walks while striking out 24.

The O's are now 43-14 (.754) when they get a quality start, and they are 14-2 (.875) when their starter goes seven innings or more.

The offense had gone eight games without double-figure hits before getting 11 last night. Last night marked just the third time in the last 13 games that they've scored as many as five runs.

The Yankees won also and still lead the American League East by 1 1/2 games.