BALTIMORE — The Orioles avoided a sweep against Houston, continuing their remarkable streak of 76 straight series without being being swept that illustrates their uncanny ability to mitigate the tough times and regroup quickly.
Of course, such an unusual feat isn’t a requirement to be a real contender as the just-celebrated 1983 club famously had a pair of seven-game losing streaks and was swept four times in a season that resulted in the Orioles’ last world championship. In other words, losing to the Astros on Thursday hardly would have meant the end of the world for a club sporting the American League’s best record, but the uneasiness surrounding the bullpen would have grown exponentially had All-Star closer Felix Bautista blown a second save in three days and wasted a strong seven-inning performance from winning pitcher Dean Kremer.
Make no mistake, this was a trying series that began with both national and local scorn for Orioles chairman and CEO John Angelos over the ridiculous suspension of popular broadcaster Kevin Brown and continued with arguably the most crushing defeat of the season on Tuesday and another tough loss on Wednesday. Time will tell whether the grueling series against the defending World Series champions will serve as a helpful lesson for October — Baltimore was only a pitch away from a series win after all — or a sign that the Orioles aren’t where they need to be just yet, especially on the pitching front.
Thursday began with the bad news of lefty Danny Coulombe being placed on the 15-day injured list with left biceps tendinitis, leaving manager Brandon Hyde without one of his best relievers for at least the next couple weeks. This is a bullpen that was already dealing with uncertainty because of the shakier performance of All-Star setup man Yennier Cano in recent weeks, the maddening coin-flip nature of right-hander Shintaro Fujinami since his arrival from Oakland, and the recent demotion of ineffective right-hander Bryan Baker.
Losing Coulombe for even 15 days isn’t ideal, and it reiterates why many were calling for general manager Mike Elias to acquire another high-leverage bullpen arm before last week’s trade deadline. Instead, inconsistent lefty Cionel Perez had to step into Thursday’s eighth inning that was a tailor-made situation for Coulombe with Astros lefty sluggers Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker leading off the frame. To his credit, Perez would have done the job if not for his own fielding error — Ryan Mountcastle’s flip to first base wasn’t good either — that extended the inning, led to a run, and allowed Houston to send its powerful top of the order to the plate against Bautista in the ninth.
The Orioles do have internal options to potentially beef up their bullpen down the stretch, ranging from veteran right-hander Mychal Givens to lefty prospect DL Hall. Of course, health has been a major question for both pitchers this season with Givens dealing with shoulder inflammation for months and Hall trying to restore his high-90s fastball velocity after an offseason back injury. Recently acquired right-hander Jacob Webb had an impressive Orioles debut by striking out the side in the sixth inning of Wednesday’s loss, but you’re not exactly banking on an August waiver claim to be pitching the eighth inning of one-run games the rest of the way.
Of course, there’s also the possibility of shuttling a starter or two to the bullpen down the stretch, but even that thinking needs to be revisited with Hyde announcing long reliever Cole Irvin as the expected Saturday starter in Seattle, signaling the introduction of a six-man rotation. The approach makes sense with Kremer, Kyle Bradish, Grayson Rodriguez, and Tyler Wells all set to blow past their career highs in innings pitched, and we’ve already seen the Orioles back off the struggling Wells by optioning him to Double-A Bowie nearly two weeks ago.
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Going to a six-man rotation has its perks in terms of managing innings and providing additional rest for young pitchers, but Baltimore still needs to win games and Irvin hasn’t inspired much confidence with a 5.45 ERA over his eight starts this season. Veterans Jack Flaherty and Kyle Gibson will be counted on to keep the rotation stable with so many potential moving parts around them the rest of the way.
The Orioles will monitor John Means’ rehab assignment with great interest — he pitched two scoreless innings for Bowie in his 2023 debut on Thursday — over the next few weeks, but one can’t expect too much from the lefty starter who’s pitching competitively for the first time since undergoing Tommy John surgery nearly 16 months ago. Means being able to fill a meaningful role in the rotation or bullpen in September and October would be a big win for the organization, but the Orioles won’t want to compromise his long-term health either.
Entering Thursday with FanGraphs projecting them to have a 96.7% chance of making the playoffs and a 53.5% chance to win the division and secure a first-round bye, the Orioles remain in fantastic shape. But just over seven weeks remain in the regular season, and their pitching — because of workloads or ineffectiveness — is looking a little too much like a group just trying to hold on.
They couldn’t against the Astros on Tuesday and barely did so on Thursday afternoon.
How this pitching staff evolves — or merely survives — between now and October will be fascinating. And it’s sure to provide more heart-stopping moments like we witnessed against Houston this week.
That’ll serve as good practice — or a stern warning — for October baseball.
