Each Monday, in this spot, I’ll try to give you fan’s look at what transpired with our Birds the past week and what lies ahead for the club. My only promise is that the piece will be totally biased and from a real fan, so here it goes…
1. Been A Long, Long Time…
The Orioles concluded the week with a 5-2 record winning back to back series for the first time since August 2017. With the week starting with a dud in which Dylan Bundy yielded four home runs before recording an out — a feat never done in an MLB game before — it sure ended on a high note. The bats woke up with the club scoring five or more runs in six of seven games and hitting homers at a pace we’ve become accustomed to the last few years, with the Birds swatting 18 in this seven game set.
2. Pretty In Pink
After Sunday’s 17-1 victory over the Rays, Buck Showalter opened his post game press conference with this little quip, “What’s that movie? Pretty in Pink? Maybe we should wear ’em again tomorrow.” Of course he was referring to Sunday’s Mothers Day pink-accented uniforms the club wore en route to their 17-1 shellacking of the Tampa Bay Rays. Maybe Buck is right as the club had 19 hits, including five home runs. Sunday saw the return of Joey Rickard, who had himself a three hit game, including two home runs. Oddly, Rickard had just two home runs in 27 games since being sent to Norfolk. The game also marked the eighth straight game in which the team has homered, Maybe Buck could petition the league to make it “Mothers Month” and continue wearing the pink.
3. Hess Keeps The Birds Trucking
Faced with a rare double header, which was as the result of an April 24th rainout, the Birds reached down to their Triple-A affiliate at Norfolk to pick up the contract of David Hess. The 24 year old right promptly took the bump and gave the team a six inning quality start to extend the Birds’ season high game winning streak to four games. Okay, it wasn’t that easy. The kid yielded a three run homer in the first and things looked like they could get ugly quick, especially for the bullpen, in the twin bill. Give Hess credit, he battled the jitters and went 6 innings, giving up three runs on six hits giving the Orioles suddenly red-hot offense a chance to mount a comeback, which they did winning 6-3. It was an interesting game all the way around with Hess, Schoop, Machado, Sisco, Scott, and Givens — all brought up in the Orioles system — contributing to the win.
4. A Tale Of Two Bundys
This week seemed to be a microcosm of Dylan Bundy’s up and down season. The young righty started off the season setting a dubious MLB record allowing four home runs before recording an out, allowing seven earned runs on five hits and the four home runs without recording an out. Then on Sunday, the burly right hander reverted back to his early season form going seven innings, without giving up a run on just two hits.
Bundy’s season, overall, has been an interesting dichotomy. In the first five starts Bundy logged 31.2 innings, allowing 26 hits, one homer, pitching to a 1.42 ERA. In his last three starts (prior to yesterday) Bundy had logged just nine innings, giving up 23 hits, nine home runs and a bloated 19.00 ERA. Bundy has stated that he worked on a mechanical issue and felt he had worked things out. If yesterday is any indication, it looks like he’s figured things out.
5. Jonathan Is #1
On Saturday, Schoop knocked two home runs in a 6-3 victory in game one of the double header. For Schoop it was career home runs number 91 and 92, which tied Schoop for #1 with Brian Roberts for home runs by an Orioles second baseman. I know it sounds crazy, but I’m still holding out hope that the club will find some way to lock up Schoop and Machado to new contracts to build around.
This week the Orioles play a quick two game set with the Phillies, then hit the road for a wrap-around four game weekend set with the Red Sox.
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Every weekday morning at 8 AM, we publish our “Daily Feature” — it’s our favorite piece of the day, the one we don’t want you to miss. You can read our “Daily Feature” here on BSR or have it emailed to you by adding your address to the sign up box in the sidebar (or below if you’re browsing BSR on a mobile device).