Zach Wilt: Can O's bullpen continue to mask starting pitching woes?

Last night, the Orioles offense rallied late with four runs split between the seventh and eighth innings, but ultimately weren't able to overcome a short outing from their starting pitcher. Stop me if you've heard that sentence before. Kevin Gausman, who despite his winless record, has been right behind Chris Tillman as the Birds' best starter, and entered the contest with a 3.45 ERA. Unfortunately, he scattered six runs over seven hits in just three innings of work against the Boston Red Sox in Fenway Park and the O's bats were never able to surpass that total.

Starting pitching has certainly been the weak link for the first place Baltimore Orioles this season. The O's rotation ranks 26th in the big leagues with a 4.89 ERA. They've thrown 350 innings pitched this season, the fourth fewest in MLB. Their 281 total strikeouts ranks 24th in the big leagues and 1.44 WHIP is the fourth-highest total.

After Gausman departed, it was time for some mop up duty and Buck Showalter turned to Odrisamer Despaigne, Brian Duensing and Dylan Bundy for the next five innings of work. Despaigne, in his Orioles debut, shut out the Red Sox over 2.2 innings pitched. Duensing continued that trend, allowing just one hit over 1.1 IP and Bundy retired the final three Red Sox hitters after the Orioles cut the lead to two runs in the top of the eighth inning.

No matter who the O's turn to in relief, they seem to give a stellar performance. The Birds bullpen ranks second in ERA (2.94), has the fourth-highest WAR of any group in MLB and leads baseball with a 82.7 left on base percentage. Among qualified relief pitchers, Zach Britton and Brad Brach rank sixth and seventh in ERA (0.96, 1.04). Vance Worley ranks 21st (1.80).

Four Orioles relief pitchers with at least 28 innings pitched have an ERA under three. Darren O'Day's was 3.15 before he landed on the disabled list with a hamstring injury. The aforementioned Britton is 20 for 20 in save opportunities this season, breaking the O's record for consecutive saves in as many chances to start a season. He's seven saves away from becoming the fifth pitcher in franchise history to record 100 career saves.

I bring up all of these statistics about the Orioles because there will come a time when they'll be faced with a difficult choice about improving their starting rotation. At 37-27, you better believe that the O's will be looking to buy at the trade deadline and starters should be their number one priority. The problem for them is, Baseball America ranks their farm system 27th in baseball. The Birds didn't have a top 100 prospect in BA's list published in February.

While their farm system certainly has some pieces that will be valuable to the deadline sellers, the Orioles may face the difficult decision of moving a top tier relief pitcher for some rotation help. I would be careful doing that.

I certainly understand the urgency and need to improve the rotation, but it's important to keep in mind that despite their struggles, the Orioles are still the best team in the American League East -- well, tied as the best team technically. I also can't forget about the World Champion Kansas City Royals, who ranked second in bullpen ERA last season (2.72) and 22nd in starter's ERA (4.34). A dominant bullpen and mediocre rotation can be the recipe for a championship. In fact, I think a lot of teams are copying that formula in their roster construction today.

Lastly, the Orioles rotation hasn't been good, but it also hasn't been this bad. Their 4.89 ERA is high, but 4.46 FIP ranks 18th in MLB. The only Orioles starter who has outperformed his FIP is Chris Tillman (2.87 ERA, 3.91 FIP) and he's done that with a .266 BABIP. Everyone has been disappointed with Ubaldo Jimenez's performance this season, but his FIP is over two runs less than his ERA (6.89 ERA, 4.46 FIP). The Orioles rotation has a .310 BABIP overall this season, that should come down and would improve the overall numbers of their starting rotation.

My main point is that their strongest asset is the one you want to be the best come October. As long as they can get to the postseason with a below-average rotation, I think they can do some damage with a powerful offense and a shutdown bullpen. It's been working so far, hasn't it?

Zach Wilt blogs about the Orioles at Baltimore Sports Report. Follow him on Twitter: @zach_wilt. His views appear here as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our pages. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.