The John Means and Kyle Bradish rehab assignments will both be ending this week
Hello, friends.
Nothing quite like an Orioles win to make things feel better after a stupid loss. The team was able to deliver this on Saturday afternoon, evening up the series with Oakland by dropping a 7-0 victory. The game featured home runs by Gunnar Henderson, Ryan Mountcastle, and Adley Rutschman, and saw Cole Irvin toss seven shutout innings against his former team. Check out John Beers’s recap of the game for more of the lovely totals.
For a second day in a row, the Yankees matched the Orioles result. They put a real beating on the Brewers, dropping 19 hits and 15 runs in a blowout that saw both Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton homer. Not fun for Birdland if those guys stay healthy and get hot. The O’s and Yankees remain tied atop the AL East in the games back column, but if you want to get technical, and since it means the Orioles are in first place you certainly should want that, the Orioles actually lead by percentage points. Both teams are three games clear of the Red Sox and five games clear of the Rays and Jays.
There was some news before the Orioles got going with yesterday’s victory. Manager Brandon Hyde told reporters that the next start Kyle Bradish will make is going to be with the big league team. Bradish had a successful rehab outing on Friday and reached the five inning, 80(ish) pitch threshold that had been what the team was looking to see from him. His rehab will be over after just three starts, two of which were pretty good.
The squeeze is officially coming. If Bradish’s next start is on regular rest, he would start on Wednesday. If the Orioles don’t want to disrupt any of the next three guys from their own regular rest, Bradish could slot in on Thursday afternoon instead. They’ll also have to decide what to do about John Means within the next few days; Means has his final rehab outing today and would be on regular rest on Friday. There was some bad luck for Means in his last start. I’d like to see him get good results at least once before he has to be activated.
Irvin made a heck of a case for himself to not get booted from the rotation with the way he pitched on Saturday afternoon. Yeah, that was against a sad Athletics lineup, but he got better results than Corbin Burnes did, and was able to pitch deeper into the game, too. Irvin’s ERA of 3.49 is the second-best of the O’s Opening Day rotation.
Albert Suárez will look to do similar for himself as he starts the 1:35 finale today. It’s no guarantee that Means will jump into the rotation until the Orioles confirm this, although it would surprise me if they don’t.
A six-man rotation is also possible, according to Hyde. I don’t see how that could possibly work out well for the team for any length of time, given that it would trim one pitcher from the bullpen. There are unexciting guys out there, Yohan Ramírez chief among them for me, but you need these guys to soak lower-leverage innings. We’ll get the first sense of how the O’s want to shake this out when they announce the starting pitchers for the coming four games against the Yankees.
Before the Yankees come along, they’ve got to make sure they finish the series strong against the Athletics so that the Orioles aren’t left with a disappointing home series loss against such a weak team. Suárez starts for the O’s, with righty Paul Blackburn scheduled to pitch for Oakland. Blackburn has a 2.03 ERA over his first five starts. The O’s have done some ERA escalating over the last couple of weeks, including to Blackburn’s rotation-mate JP Sears yesterday. Get on that again, guys.
Around the blogO’sphere
Three questions for the Orioles after solid April showing (Orioles.com)
I always appreciate the restraint of going for three things instead of giving in to the five things industrial complex. Question 3 about whether there are enough trusted relievers is one I’ve been thinking about a lot since Friday night.
For top prospect Jackson Holliday, his demotion is ‘part of the process’ (The Virginian-Pilot)
Holliday’s confidence in his ability remains unshaken after his return back to the minors.
The Milkmen, in support of Colton Cowser, steal the show at Camden Yards (The Baltimore Sun)
There was a solid group costume effort by a group of guys at Friday’s game. Unfortunately, the Orioles didn’t play the kind of game that really enhances this fun.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
Today in 1988, the Orioles dropped a 4-2 game to the Twins in what turned out to be the last of their 21 consecutive losses to begin the season.
There are a number of former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2008 reliever Jim Miller, 1996 pitcher Jimmy Myers, 1991-94 pitcher Jim Poole, and 1960-65 outfielder Jackie Brandt. Today is Brandt’s 90th birthday, so an extra happy birthday to him.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: 5th president James Monroe (1758), Lamborghini founder Ferruccio Lamborghini (1916), novelist Harper Lee (1926), actress Ann-Margret (1941), baseball Hall of Famer Barry Larkin (1964), and actress Jessica Alba (1981).
On this day in history…
In 1788, Maryland ratified the Constitution of the United States, the seventh state to do so.
In 1789, the infamous Mutiny on the Bounty took place as the captain, Lt. William Bligh, as well as 18 other sailors who did not join the mutiny, were set adrift in the ship’s launch in the South Pacific.
In 1944, American and British military forces conducting Exercise Tiger, a rehearsal for the Normandy landings, were attacked by the German navy, leading to 946 deaths. Survivors were reported to have been sworn to secrecy for both morale and intelligence purposes.
In 1973, Pink Floyd’s album The Dark Side of the Moon reached the top spot on the Billboard chart in the United States. The album holds the record to this day for most weeks on the top 200 chart, having notched 989 weeks in the ranking. Second place, Legend by Bob Marley and the Wailers, is just over three years away from potentially taking the record.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on April 28. Have a safe Sunday. Go O’s!