Baltimore Orioles: Dan Straily’s First Start Was A Disaster

Dan Straily made his first start with the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday night. It was a disaster, to say the least.

Before Dan Straily signed his deal with the Baltimore Orioles, I wrote a piece suggesting he made sense for the Birds. It was reported that he had three offers from American League teams and my gut told me that the O’s were one of those teams, so I convinced myself it made sense.

Then the Orioles made the signing official and I believed, even more, that this was going to be a good signing. The bullpen has been worked early and often, someone needs to pitch a few innings, and maybe he shows a little something and the O’s could flip him at the deadline. At the moment, I’m questioning all of this.

Strailiy made his first start (second appearance) in a Baltimore Orioles uniform on Wednesday night in game three of a four-game series with the Oakland A’s. He gave up two hits in the first inning, but a double play and an innocent ground ball got him out of the first inning, unscathed.

Then the wheels came off, the vehicle exploded, and carnage ensued. Too much? Maybe.

Straily lasted just 3.1 innings, giving up five earned runs on eight hits with zero strikeouts. At least he didn’t walk anybody! Overall, Oakland hitters averaged a 93.6 mph exit velocity on batted balls against Straily, 98.8 mph against his four-seam fastball. Two of the eight hits ended up in the seats at Camden Yards, but that was just the beginning.

Things didn’t get better once Straily exited the game. Josh Rogers entered in relief of Straily and also gave up five earned runs, but one-upped Straily and surrendered three home runs, including two to Khris Davis, the one that hits.

In his two appearances, Straily has thrown 4.2 innings, giving up 10 earned runs on 13 hits, including four home runs. He’s also walked two and has yet to record a strikeout.  It’s still early and he isn’t acclimated to his teammates or Camden Yards, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt there. However, that’s an extreme pitching line for a veteran pitcher who has spent a good bit of his career pitching in the American League.

Of his 66 pitches, only four produced a swing and miss. That’s the same amount of whiffs he was able to produce with his 44 pitches on Sunday against the Yankees, who smoked baseballs off Straily with an average exit velocity of 96.4 mph. We can’t call it a trend, yet, but it’s difficult to find any positives, so far.

The Orioles and A’s will conclude the series on Thursday with a 12:35 first pitch. Dylan Bundy will take the mound against Aaron Brooks. Baltimore is 3-0 against the A’s in games started by Bundy.