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Baltimore Orioles: Lowly Orioles Swept By Royals

ByTim Smart|
BALTIMORE, MD - JULY 17: Buck Showalter #26 of the Baltimore Orioles looks on from the dugout against the Texas Rangers during the first inning at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on July 17, 2017 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE, MD - JULY 17: Buck Showalter #26 of the Baltimore Orioles looks on from the dugout against the Texas Rangers during the first inning at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on July 17, 2017 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

The Baltimore Orioles got blown out by the Royals on Sunday afternoon; the O’s have now dropped to 40-97 on the season

Hoo boy, that was bad. The Baltimore Orioles are now the worst team in baseball by 5½ games. Not that the first pick in the 2019 amateur draft is any consolation, but the O’s are one step closer to locking up that draft pick.

Similar to Saturday’s game, the Orioles got started on the right foot, with a first inning homer by Jonathan Villar. Unfortunately, that was all the offense the O’s could muster on Sunday.

The Orioles got into trouble in the third inning when they racked up three errors, two of which on one pickoff attempt, and allowed the Royals to jump out to a 4-1 lead.

The Royals then took advantage of Mike Wright Jr. in the 8th inning with two doubles and a triple, extending their lead to 9-1 which would wind up as the final score.

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Coming off three straight quality starts, David Hess was only able to get through four innings in this one allowing five runs, four earned, on nine hits with just three strikeouts. Like much of the pitching staff this year, Hess has struggled with the long ball, allowing 16 homers in just 82 innings.

Hess is a low strikeout, low upside pitcher but if he can continue to induce soft contact and figure out how to limit homers, he can be a reliable back-end starter for the Orioles the next couple years.

The Orioles offense on Sunday was more painful to watch than the pitching, however. The O’s combined to make Royals rookie Jorge Lopez look like an MVP candidate. Lopez went 7 strong innings striking out 8 with no walks, allowing 5 hits and just the one run on the Villar homer in the first.

It was a rough weekend for the O’s getting swept by the second worst team in baseball, and resoundingly at that; the Royals outscored the O’s 23-7 in three games.

The Orioles run differential now sits at an incredible -217 with a month left to play in the season. They’re dead last in runs allowed at 753, with 27 more than the 29th place Rangers. They’re dead last with a team ERA of 5.18 and have allowed the second most homers in baseball.

Meanwhile the offense has a combined batting average of .239, and a .299 OBP. How bad is that? Just 9 times since 2000 have teams posted a sub-.300 on-base percentage.

This Orioles team is now on pace to become just the 14th team in the last 100 years to post a sub-.300 winning percentage. There’s still a month left to play, which will give the O’s some time to rattle off a couple wins and get above that threshold but even if they get above .300, this season will still be a big disappointment.

Ok, ok, this is depressing, let’s move on. The Orioles make their way to Seattle for a three-game set with the Mariners starting tonight.

Josh Rogers takes the mound for what is expected to be his final start in 2018. Rogers matches up against the Mariner’s Erasmo Ramirez, a 28-year-old righthander with a 6.28 ERA on the season.

Hopefully the O’s don’t have any jet-lag issues because this should be a decent opportunity to get the bats going, and they need a pick-me-up at the moment. Hope everyone who’s still watching is ready for a few late nights! First pitch at 9:10 est.

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