The team has started off 2-1 in a tough nine-game stretch. Now, three against the Phillies.
Hello, friends.
Seven wins in a row was just one too many to hope for. The Orioles came up short in their attempt at a second consecutive sweep with a 6-3 loss to the Braves yesterday. Check out Paul Folkemer’s recap of the game if you missed it. To adjust some old baseball folk wisdom, every team wins 40 and every team loses 60. It’s what you do with the other 62 that matters.
I think it’s safe to say that yesterday’s game was one of the 60, with the O’s coming up short as they faced a great (up to this point) Braves pitcher in Reynaldo López, who is the National League leader in ERA. This was not getting dominated by a scrub. A lesson that Orioles fans had the opportunity to absorb last year is that even an excellent 101 win season involves 61 losses.
They just came up short, and now they move on to face the NL-best Phillies. No rest for the weary here. This will be a tough series. Helpfully, the Yankees also lost on Thursday, so the O’s hold their deficit at 2.5 games. They will be playing the Red Sox this weekend, who I will not be counting on to help the Orioles much.
The Orioles snuck in some roster churn during Thursday’s game. The team announced that they have claimed pitcher Levi Stoudt on waivers. To make room on the 40-man roster, the O’s transferred John Means to the 60-day injured list. This step has not yet been taken with Tyler Wells, so there’s another spot that can be cleared when the O’s want to.
Stoudt had been in the Mariners organization but was designated for assignment. The 26-year-old righty made his MLB debut last year, pitching in four games with the Reds. They went very badly. So did Stoudt’s time in the Triple-A rotation for the Mariners this year: 6.92 ERA in 11 starts. Ouch. Stoudt has minor league options remaining, so the Orioles can plug him in the Norfolk rotation.
The Orioles may just want him to be an extra body there. The recent minor league signing of Julio Teheran seems to be a similar sort of thing. Cade Povich got promoted to the Orioles and now they need guys to cover the Triple-A innings. Stoudt’s addition to the 40-man may be the kind of roster move that you forget about by the end of today and don’t think about again until Stoudt is waived by the O’s in turn. Remember Livan Soto? Peyton Burdick? Kaleb Ort? Exactly.
Back to the Phillies. The Orioles are getting thrown right back at a tough starting pitcher today, as the scheduled Philly starter is Ranger Suárez. The 28-year-old was great three years ago, more pedestrian in each of the past two seasons, and is back to being great for 2024, with a 1.81 ERA and 0.854 WHIP over his first 13 starts. With Kyle Bradish set to start the 7:05 game for the O’s, this could be an interesting pitching duel later.
Around the blogO’sphere
With Coulombe injury, bullpen looks for that next man up approach (Steve Melewski)
The next man up approach didn’t work out super well on Thursday as Cionel Pérez ran into problems.
Gunnar Henderson on young, fun O’s: ‘It’s looking really good for Birdland’ (Orioles.com)
Gunnar was recently on MLB Network Radio and talked a little bit about what’s great about this team. He’s not wrong, it looks really good for Birdland.
Samuel Basallo, back behind the plate, is proving the hype is real (The Baltimore Sun)
Basallo is only the latest in a line of Elias-acquired prospects about whom I simply cannot read enough stories. I hope he’s pushing his way into the roster conversation before the end of next season.
Trade targets for each contender (The Athletic)
If you regularly read this space, you know I don’t think very much of Jim Bowden’s hypothetical trade proposals. None of that here, just his assessing of each team’s needs. For the Orioles, closer and set-up reliever do seem like spots they could target to improve the roster. I am not enthused at the idea of a Tanner Scott reunion, which is even more true after he blew a game to the Mets last night.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
Today in 1996, Cal Ripken Jr. set a less-known record with The Streak as he played in his 2,216th straight game, passing Japanese player Sachio Kinogusa for the worldwide consecutive games played record.
Out of all the players to ever play for the Orioles, not a single one has ever been born on this day. None of the current top 30 O’s prospects on MLB Pipeline are in line to be the first.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! You might not have any Orioles birthday buddies, but you do have these: abolitionist author Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811), singer Burl Ives (1909), tennis legend Steffi Graf (1969), and actress Lucy Hale (1989).
On this day in history…
In 1775, the Continental Congress formally established the Continental Army, which is still recognized today as the birth of the US Armed Forces. Exactly two years later, the stars and stripes design was officially adopted as the American flag.
In 1807, the French under the personal leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte defeated the Russians in the Battle of Friedland, effectively ending the War of the Fourth Coalition. It took until the sixth coalition for someone to finally beat him.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on June 14. Have a safe Friday. Go O’s!