Baltimore Orioles: A Brutal Afternoon For Yefry Ramirez

The Baltimore Orioles fell to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday afternoon in Grapefruit League action after a rough outing for Yefry Ramirez.

Thursday afternoon’s game between the Baltimore Orioles and Pittsburgh Pirates was about as spring training-like as a spring training game can be. Thanks to a mini home run derby that broke out among Pirates’ hitters, Pittsburgh was able to climb from behind and secure a victory. A walk-off home run off Branden Kline ended the contest in the bottom of the ninth.

Mike Wright continued his scoreless spring training streak, out-dueling Pittsburgh starter Jordan Lyles across three innings. Did I make that sound exciting? No? Moving on then.

In all seriousness, I know many fans genuinely want to see Mike Wright succeed and finally put it together. No fan wants to see a player on their favorite team fail miserably. However, based on four years of production outputs, most fans, myself included, are waiting for the Mike Wright spring bubble to burst.

With his three scoreless innings on Thursday afternoon, Wright has now pitched 10 spring innings, giving up zero runs in the process. Only one other pitcher in all of baseball has gone at least six innings without giving up a run this spring, Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Sam Gaviglio.

Despite posting a 0.00 ERA, Wright has allowed a high number of baserunners and base hits. That wasn’t the case today. Wright gave up only one hit (hit one batter) while striking out three and walking none.

From Roch Kubatko’s in-game notes,

"“It’s just a little different and a little more conviction behind them because of what the stats say about different things,” he said, declining to elaborate and tip off opposing hitters."

Baltimore has two early off days on the schedule so a fifth starter isn’t an immediate need, but Wright is out of options and performing very well. There’s a very real possibility that he starts the year in the bullpen, where he will have a short amount of time to show that his new, secret approach can work in the regular season. Could we also see Wright take a rotation spot? Brace for it.

Yefry Ramirez struggled for the Baltimore Orioles.

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Today wasn’t a death blow for Yefry Ramirez, but it obviously isn’t going to help his case. Pittsburgh tagged Ramirez for four solo home runs on the afternoon, but he did strike out six hitters in three innings.

His spring ERA is now 5.40 and he’s facing increased competition from other rotation candidates. David Hess brings his experience from last season, we just discussed Mike Wright, and John Means looked very good on Wednesday afternoon. Ramirez still has a minor league option and is only 25 years old.

As for the rest of the game, Anthony Santander went 1-2 with an RBI. He is now hitting .450 with a 1.450 OPS. Rio Ruiz also went 1-2 with an RBI, increasing his spring average to .333. He is quietly putting together a very solid spring, something we will dive into in the next few days.

Stevie Wilkerson added a solo shot to deep center field in the top of the 5th. The Pittsburgh Pirates broadcast referred to him as “top prospect Stevie Wilkerson” so address him accordingly from now on.

The Orioles return to MASN on Friday at 1:05 pm against the Boston Red Sox. Andrew Cashner and Nate Karns are among the arms scheduled to throw.