Baltimore Orioles: Takeaways from O’s Series Loss to Colorado

The Baltimore Orioles broke their seven-game slide while in Colorado but dropped the series. Here are some takeaways from the O’s trip to Denver.

After being swept aside by the Yankees during the work-week the Baltimore Orioles weekend went a little better as they picked up a win but lost two out of three in their road series with the Colorado Rockies

The Orioles led much of the first game Friday night but ultimately fell victim to a Trevor Story walk-off home run. Saturday, the O’s broke their seven-game losing streak thanks to the home run ball and a solid pitching effort from Andrew Cashner. Finally Sunday, the Birds took the lead into the bottom of the ninth but could not finish the deal as the Rockies earned another walk-off win.

With the team now coming home to take on the Tigers, let’s look back at the three major takeaways from this weekend’s series in Colorado.

Mychal Givens struggles are not just against the Yankees

Mychal Givens had an ERA of 2.75 before two poor outings against the New York Yankees last week that included a blown save. However, it’s evident Givens struggles aren’t just coming when he faces New York.

In Colorado Friday night, Brandon Hyde called on Givens to push the game into extra innings. Instead, the right-hander was only able to get one out as he allowed two hits including a two-run walk-off homer to Trevor Story.

Sunday, Givens again had a chance to earn the save but could not get the job done. The Orioles closer walked two Rockies and allowed Tony Wolters to get the ball into the outfield for the game-winning sacrifice fly.

Now, Givens has an ERA of 5.56 on the season. The 29-year-old simply cannot be trusted in high leverage situations at the moment; thus, Hyde should look to avoid giving him the ball with the game on the line.

Renato Nunez might be here to stay

Not many hitters in baseball are hotter than Renato Nunez is right now.

After hitting home runs in three of the four games with the Yankees Nunez continued his home run tear in Colorado ripping two long-balls in the series. On the year Nunez now has 12 home runs on the year with 29 RBI’s.

In a year where the Baltimore Orioles are looking to find players to build around for the future Nunez is making his case to be a crucial part of the team’s plans going forward.

Despite the losing this team has heart

If it weren’t for a few bad innings, the Baltimore Orioles would’ve left Colorado with a three-game sweep over a team that won the National League Wildcard game a year ago.

Despite what has been and will be a long year the Orioles fought hard each night in Denver and put themselves in position to win.

Unfortunately, the O’s simply don’t have the depth they need, especially in the pitching department to play winning baseball, but the fight is there, which reflects very well upon first-year manager Brandon Hyde.

After a quick three-game road trip the Birds will head home to take on the Detroit Tigers and San Francisco Giants. With neither of these teams playing good baseball, it will be a chance for the O’s to rack up some wins in front of their home crowd.