The Baltimore Orioles soared to the best record in baseball at 22-10 and then suddenly took a hard nose dive losing 10 of 13 including being swept by the Minnesota Twins at home much to the dismay of the Oriole faithful at Camden Yards.
Fortunately their hot start allowed them to withstand a losing streak and at 25-20 are only 2.5 games behind the first place (27-17) Yankees in the AL East division race.
After coming off of a 1-6 road trip that included being swept by the Royals and dropping two of three from the Tigers, the Orioles came home and seemed to get back on track by taking two of three from the Blue Jays.
But that’s when things went south as they lost their first home series to the Twins.
The first game of the three game set was the most painful as they let a 5-0 lead get away while taking a pounding, losing 14-7.
Baltimore’s starter Ubaldo Jimenez (7.17 ERA) continued his roller coaster ride of a season. After being given a 5-0 lead in the second inning he did not take advantage of his good fortune. Instead, he surrendered nine hits and six runs in four innings of work. Jimenez inconsistency could cost him his spot in the rotation.
The Twins also pounded reliever Tyler Wilson who allowed six runs and five hits in 1.1 innings of work. Center fielder Adam Jones launched a three-run homer in the second, his eighth of the season, but the Twins responded with four runs in the fifth and six runs in the sixth to snatch victory from defeat.
In the second game of the series a 2-0 loss, the reeling Birds where handcuffed by Twins ace Ervin Santana (7-2) who pitched a sparkling two-hit complete game shutout and now has the lowest ERA in the AL at 1.80.
Baltimore wasted a valiant effort by starter Dylan Bundy (5-3, 2.92 ERA) who struck out seven and allowed six hits and two runs in seven innings of work.
The final game of the series a 4-3 Twins victory, also included starting pitcher woes as Chris Tillman (1-1, 4.43 ERA) was down 4-0 in the second inning and never recovered. He gave up nine hits and struck out three in five innings of work.
Baltimore got homers from J.J. Hardy (3), Jonathan Schoop (6) and Chris Davis (10) but it was not enough.
In order to get out of this tailspin the Orioles need their starting pitchers to go deeper in the game and they need usually reliable hitter Manny Machado (.218) to start getting on base more often. They are also without All-Star closer Zach Britton who is out with an arm injury. The starting pitching struggles mean the bullpen has to be used more often and they are therefore less effective.
Still each season has its ups and downs and hopefully the O’s are going to rebound with a winning road series against the best team in the AL, the Houston Astros.
