Baltimore Orioles: Very Few Are Doing It Better From The Start

Opposing pitchers have not been able to tame this Baltimore Orioles starting lineup.

Before this season started, not even the most optimistic fan of the Baltimore Orioles could have predicted that this lineup would start the season 4-1, including four-straight victories. These haven’t been just any victories. The Baltimore Orioles have won four-straight road games against American League East opponents.

Every single game has one had one common storyline. Opposing starting pitchers are 0-5 in recording a quality start against the Baltimore Orioles to begin the season.

Say what you will about the value of the quality start stat (six IP, three or fewer earned runs allowed), it’s truly mindblowing that Brandon Hyde‘s lineups have prevented a starting pitcher from recording a quality start through five games, even forcing Sean Reid-Foley out of the game after two innings.

The Orioles have not been above-average in pitches per plate appearance since the 2012 season. You have to go all the way back to 1999 to find an Orioles lineup which finished among the top ten teams in walks. Patience at the plate hasn’t exactly been a theme with the Baltimore Orioles over the years.

This year’s team isn’t drawing the walks (14 in 5 games) but they are showing patience at the plate, taking 4.10 pitches per plate appearance, good for 6th best in baseball through the first week of the season.

Here’s the list of starting pitchers who the Orioles have faced in 2019 and their lines:

• Masahiro Tanaka– 5.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 83 pitches
• James Paxton– 5.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 82 pitches
• J.A. Happ– 4 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 75 pitches
• Sean Reid-Foley- 2 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 52 pitches
• Marcus Stroman– 5.2 IP, 9 H, 2 ER, 101 pitches

Meanwhile, Baltimore starting pitchers have logged back-to-back quality starts, thanks to David Hess and his 6.1 inning, no-hit performance on Monday night and Andrew Cashner‘s six shutout-inning outing Tuesday, both against the Blue Jays.

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Baltimore Orioles are jumping all over opposing pitchers early.

It isn’t a string of impressive sixth inning performances by this lineup that is doing the trick, although it has been an effective inning. The Orioles are hitting .364 and producing a wRC of 198 in the sixth inning of ballgames this season, both top ten marks among all big league teams.

It’s the first inning that has been causing the most damage. In fact, few teams in baseball have produced more in the first inning than the Baltimore Orioles.

The O’s are among the league leaders in batting average (.348), OBP (.423), slugging (.652), OPS (1.075), and lead the league in wRC+ (235) in the first inning, according to Fangraphs. They are making pitchers work hard out of the gate and work from behind early.

Hyde hasn’t been afraid to change up his lineup from game to game, already sitting Cedric Mullins and Chris Davis, but the trio of Jonathan Villar, Trey Mancini, and Dwight Smith Jr.have found themselves in the top four slots of the batting order in all five games. Smith is hitting a cool .350, Villar is currently at .333, and Mancini has been an unstoppable force with a .450 average.

These numbers aren’t sustainable, however, let’s enjoy this ride for as long as it takes us. The Baltimore Orioles are playing aggressive and entertaining baseball. The Baltimore Orioles are fun.

They will try and make it five-straight wins on Wednesday afternoon at 4:00 pm. Toronto will send Matt Shoemaker to the mound. He tossed seven scoreless innings against the Tigers in his first start of the year. Can the Orioles up their streak to six-straight games without allowing a quality start?