We have a bunch of 4 inning starters

[Frobby]

First four innings: 26 ER in 72 innings = 3.25 ERA

Fifth inning: 21 ER in 18 innings = 10.50 ERA

We’ve only allowed five fewer earned runs in the fifth inning alone than we have in the first four innings combined.  

It would be nice to just bring in a reliever to start the fifth inning in every game John Means doesn’t pitch, but that’s not very practical.  (Means, by the way, has not allowed a run in the fifth inning).    
 

[Sports Guy]

So does every other team.

[Hazmat]

The Rays have already embraced this reality.  Is it time we do as well?

[Frobby]

6 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

So does every other team.

Uh, no.   Major league ERA in the 5th inning is 4.05 this year.   Yes, starters are throwing fewer innings per game every season, but no team is dramatically falling off a cliff in the fifth inning the way we are.   

[Sports Guy]

Just now, Frobby said:

Uh, no.   Major league ERA in the 5th inning is 4.05 this year.   Yes, starters are throwing fewer innings per game every season, but no team is dramatically falling off a cliff in the fifth inning the way we are.   

Well, it’s obviously a SSS anomaly too.

The game is all about getting 15 outs from your starter now.  

[Frobby]

7 minutes ago, Hazmat said:

The Rays have already embraced this reality.  Is it time we do as well?

The Rays really have not embraced this, at least not this year.   Their starters have gone 5+ the vast majority of their games.   

[Hazmat]

9 minutes ago, Frobby said:

The Rays really have not embraced this, at least not this year.   Their starters have gone 5+ the vast majority of their games.   

Certainly, they've embraced the strategy of using pitchers to start games for minimal number of innings or to use relievers first and then bring in what is considered a SP to pitch 4-5 innings.  They have gotten some nice starts from Glasnow, Fleming and recently Wacha.  But even Wacha on 4/11 came in to pitch 4 innings after Honeywell pitched the first 2 innings of the game (his MLB debut if I'm not mistaken).  I don't believe we've seen the O's employ a similar strategy.

[Just Regular]

If tomorrow we promoted Lowther (25.0), Akin (26.1) and Kremer (25.3), and released Sulser, Lakins and LeBlanc, I imagine Hyde could find some way to cover a week's worth of innings.    Maybe it would even be easier to pinch hit for Zimmermann in the 5th with the 4-inning brigade.

You'd still have Baumann, Bradish, Smith, Wells (later?) for the Tides rotation, Jannis honing his pitch - I bet LeBlanc would even make it there.

You probably ought to be at least as good as John Means anyway to try and get Jazz Chisholm or Oakland Matt out three times.

[Frobby]

14 minutes ago, Hazmat said:

Certainly, they've embraced the strategy of using pitchers to start games for minimal number of innings or to use relievers first and then bring in what is considered a SP to pitch 4-5 innings.  They have gotten some nice starts from Glasnow, Fleming and recently Wacha.  But even Wacha on 4/11 came in to pitch 4 innings after Honeywell pitched the first 2 innings of the game (his MLB debut if I'm not mistaken).  I don't believe we've seen the O's employ a similar strategy.

I see (1) using openers and (2) using starters for fewer innings as two separate but sometimes related strategies.  

The Rays’ starting pitcher has pitched 5+ Innings in 12 of 18 games, including 6 outings of 6+.   Looking at the six games where the starter didn’t pitch 5 innings, I see two games where the opener strategy was used, three games where the starter was pulled for poor performance, and one in which the starter was pulled due to injury (Chris Archer).   In one of the opener games, the second pitcher went 5 innings; in the other, 4.

[gold21030]

We have two rookies in our rotation who are trying to make the move to the majors after spending most of last year at the alternate site not exactly racking up innings. We also have two project arms in the rotation.

This was pretty much expected. Hopefully it gets better as the year goes along, but I'm not worried about the short starts so far. We're not competing this year anyway.

[connja]

how about throwing 3 guys for an average of  3 innings each, with 3 days rest.  So you need 4 sets of 3, as your staff.   With one reliever who could come in when you need a 4th pitcher for any game.  

[PHRESH]

42 minutes ago, connja said:

how about throwing 3 guys for an average of  3 innings each, with 3 days rest.  So you need 4 sets of 3, as your staff.   With one reliever who could come in when you need a 4th pitcher for any game.  

Cool idea, but I don't think we'd have enough guys who can even go 2 ip 

[Orioles0615]

8 hours ago, PHRESH said:

Cool idea, but I don't think we'd have enough guys who can even go 2 ip 

We need that dominant long inning reliver that Britton was for the first couple months of 2014

[Moose Milligan]

15 hours ago, Frobby said:

Uh, no.   Major league ERA in the 5th inning is 4.05 this year.   Yes, starters are throwing fewer innings per game every season, but no team is dramatically falling off a cliff in the fifth inning the way we are.   

Is that Major League ERA for all pitchers?  Or Major League ERA for just starters who make it to the 5th?

Unrelated:

 

[interloper]

Hyde has been quick with the hook as well. Not saying the results in the 5th have been good, but there's been at least a few games where the guy probably could have gotten that last out of the 5th. Not that I'm criticizing Hyde for it, I prefer a quick hook most times.