Baltimore Orioles: Three Takeaways From Series Loss to Tigers

The Baltimore Orioles suffered another heartbreaking series loss at the hands of the Detroit Tigers.

For the second straight series, the Baltimore Orioles were a few bad innings away from earning a series sweep. Instead however they ended up series losers as they dropped two out of three games with the Detroit Tigers.

Baltimore opened up the series with a Memorial Day Victory, were shoutout in the middle game Tuesday night, and Wednesday blew a late-inning lead as they dropped the series.

The Orioles did pick up a win, so not all takeaways from this series were negative. Without further ado here are the top three takeaways from the Baltimore Orioles series with the Detroit Tigers.

John Means continues to impress:

No pitcher on the Baltimore Orioles starting pitching staff has been more trustworthy than John Means this season.

The 26-year-old left-hander is surely making a case to be the ace of the O’s staff as Wednesday he delivered one of the best starts of any Oriole this season.

Means threw six innings of one-run ball allowing just three hits while striking out seven in a no-decision.

In eight starts Means has put together a handful of solid outings and now has a very impressive 2.80 ERA to show for it.

DJ Stewart is no finished product

Despite 2019 being a lost season, Orioles fans were given some excitement when the team announced they’d recall DJ Stewart prior to Tuesday night’s game.

Stewart was excellent in his 2019 debut Tuesday going three for four, but Wednesday showed he’s indeed human as he went 0-4 with a pair of strikeouts.

Though Stewart was raking in AAA and is one of the O’s top prospects expectations should be kept reasonable until he gains more consistent experience at the big league level.

Mychal Givens woes aren’t just in the closers role:

Mychal Givens struggles continued in his lone appearance of the O’s series with the Tigers.

After pitching a clean seventh inning on Wednesday night rookie manager, Brandon Hyde attempted to squeeze a second inning out of the former closer.

Unfortunately, the move wouldn’t pay off as Givens allowed a long home run as he allowed a long game-tying home run to John Hicks.

Clearly, Givens struggles aren’t just because of the pressure being in the closer’s role and with an Orioles team in need of finding consistency in the bullpen, they better hope he can turn things around.

With the Tigers out of town, the Orioles will have a day off Thursday before opening a three-game series at home against the struggling San Francisco Giants Friday night.