Baltimore Orioles: Takeaways From Encouraging Series In Houston

The Baltimore Orioles went toe to toe with the American League’s top team this weekend.

After dropping a three-game series in Arlington to the Rangers earlier in the week, the Baltimore Orioles finished their lone-star state trip with a three-game series against the Houston Astros over the weekend.

The series was an encouraging one as the O’s put up an outstanding fight over an extremely talented Astros team.

Friday night the O’s led much of the night by as many as three but could not hold on falling 4-3 in extras. Saturday the O’s would find themselves on the winning side of a one-run ball-game and Sunday put together a ninth-inning rally but fell short.

Paul Fry should get the ball in high leverage situations

Paul Fry has been an unsung hero for the 2019 Baltimore Orioles. He has posted an ERA of 3.29 and has a 1.0 WAR out of the Birds pen.

On Saturday night, the 26-year-old showed why he deserves to be on the mound when the O’s have a lead to hold. Fry tossed 1.2 innings of scoreless relief striking out two and not allowing any hits.

This allowed Brandon Hyde to hand the ball to Miguel Castro and close out a 4-1 win. Whether it’s in a set-up, or closing role Fry deserves a chance to get the ball when it matters most.

Hanser Alberto needs to stay in the leadoff spot

This weekend Hanser Alberto again proved why he deserves to the be the Baltimore Orioles leadoff hitter.

After going 0-5 game Friday night, Alberto bounced back Saturday and Sunday. In the O’s win Saturday Alberto went 2-5 with a double and Sunday the infielder went 3-4 boosting his batting average to .311 on the season.

Alberto has emerged as one of the Orioles most reliable hitters and deserves to stay atop the Baltimore batting order.

The 2019 Orioles don’t lack heart

There’s no lack of pride in the Orioles locker room. Though the Orioles dropped another series this weekend, this series showed the team has a lot of fight.

Going into Houston is a challenge for any team, let alone a rebuilding club with baseball’s worst record. The Orioles battled Houston extremely tough and had chances to win all four games of the series.

No one in the Baltimore locker room will be happy with the end result, but this series showed that there’s still fire and passion in these Baltimore Orioles.

The Baltimore Orioles will be off Monday and then will return to Camden Yards on Tuesday to open a six-game home-stand starting with a three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays.