HHP: Pitching, Defense & the Solo HR

[25 Nuggets]

After lots of questions entering the season, and projections once again placing the Orioles in last place in the division, they have tied their franchise best start at 5-0. Obviously there are many more games to go, but for now let's break down how they've won.

Pitching

As stated, the Orioles are leading the league with a 1.80 ERA, nine ER in five games. Six of those ER are due to the rotation and three to the bullpen. Notably because of the rain delays game one, the starting pitchers have only gone an average of about 4.2 IP. That's given the bullpen a heavy load, and aside from a bump in the road from Mychal Givens, they've delivered:

0.00 Britton, O'Day, Brach, Bundy, McFarland, Wilson

9.00 Givens

Not just that, but they're striking guys out - seven strikeouts in the Sunday day game (in 4.1 IP) gives the pen 26 Ks in 21.1 IP so far, vs just seven walks.

The starters so far are giving us what we need (and the rain delay game drags their averages down) - meanwhile the bullpen is so far as advertised.

Defense

The return of the Machado-Hardy-Schoop-Davis infield paid immediate dividends in the Minnesota series. Everyone in the infield contributed. Two games featured a Flaherty-Machado-Schoop-Davis infield that so far hasn't missed a beat. We've seen highlight plays and likely runs saved by everyone but Flaherty, as detailed in the "defense thread".

The team collectively have one error on the year (despite what the box score says today), and one unearned run. This continues the trend over several years of sound fundamentals ? the fewest errors in baseball in 2015, third fewest in 2014, and fewest in 2013. This is an emphasis of Buck-ball and it shows... "don't beat yourself".

Both catchers can gun down runners. Between Wieters and Joseph, teams are 1 of 4 in stolen base attempts on the young year. Expect this to continue as well. Seeing Wieters get his first CS of the season today was good to see.

The Solo Home Run

The Orioles hit eight home runs through five games, not the best in baseball (Colorado - 12) or even the AL (Seattle - 11) but among the leaders. The first seven home runs hit were with nobody on base. Consequently, the team has scored 22 runs, less than league average, and 9 of those runs came via the long ball.

Apparently this is enough offense. The reason is, the team is scoring consistently. They've scored 3, 4, 4, 6, and 5 runs in their five games. Only one win came in a low-leverage situation; although these small leads tax the bullpen, the Orioles have the bullpen that can stand the pressure. That said you hope that some of these home runs come with men on base. The good news is, the team has 13 walks through 5 games, all at home, for a tick under 3 walks a game -- so far this is nearly half a walk improvement over last year. We'll see how long this lasts.

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So, if the team keeps this up they'll go 162-0! But of course they won't keep it up. They'll give up some larger scores, and I think they'll put up some larger scores too. Next up is their first road series, which will be telling.

[BohKnowsBmore]

Pretty sure Hardy played today, not Flash.

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[backwardsk]

The bullpen has logged some innings, but I believe O'Day is the only one to pitch on back-to-back days.

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[Crabcakes]

Minnesota & Tampa were good 'warm-ups' ... not to discount them... a win is a win & good teams should beat teams they should beat, regularly & often. Now on to the real competition in Boston, Toronto & NY. That's where the division will be won

If starting pitching goes 5+, this team should be ok.

[25 Nuggets]

Pretty sure Hardy played today, not Flash.

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Yessir, I meant the two games prior, thanks for the catch.

[isestrex]

Yessir, I meant the two games prior, thanks for the catch.

Hardy only missed one game thanks to the rain out. Thought it feels like 2 because we saw a 2nd physical lineup with Manny at SS.

[weams]

Very nice article.

[SpinJr]

If starting pitching goes 5+, this team should be ok.

Agree, but let me amplify your statement by saying 5+ and 3 runs our fewer.

As the OP stated we've seen consistent run production and I think that is sustainable with this group. Upward and onward!!