Young core of Orioles’ rotation displaying potential amid scoreless streak: ‘Bright futures ahead’
Through the first few weeks of the season, the Orioles were being carried by their offense.
Long balls by Ryan Mountcastle, consistent production from Adley Rutschman and frozen ropes from Austin Hays and Jorge Mateo were keeping the Orioles afloat as the club’s pitching staff, mostly its rotation, floundered.
Not anymore.
The Orioles, winners of three straight for the first time this season, haven’t allowed a run in 26 consecutive innings behind their young core of starting pitchers: Grayson Rodriguez, Kyle Bradish and Dean Kremer.
“I think it’s baseball. You’re not gonna throw a shutout and score 10 runs every game,” Bradish said Wednesday after he pitched six scoreless innings in Baltimore’s 4-0 win over the Washington Nationals. “To be able to pick up the offense, when they’re going through a little lull — or vice versa — I think that just makes for a good team.”
The young core, which could even include Tyler Wells, didn’t start the season as envisioned. Rodriguez, the youngest of the group at 23, wasn’t on the major league roster to open the season. He was only called up after Bradish, 26, took a line drive off his right foot in his second inning of the year and went on the injured list. Wells, 28, had his first appearance come as a reliever because of Bradish’s injury, although the former Rule 5 draft pick pitched well. And Kremer, 27, allowed five home runs and had a 9.49 ERA in his first three starts.
But the most recent turn through the rotation displayed the potential of the developing young starters and what that could mean for the Orioles, who won all four of those pitchers’ most recent starts.
“I think we have a lot of really good arms on this team, and everyone’s kind of putting it together,” Bradish said. “I think going forward, you’re going to see a lot more of this.”
Rodriguez allowed four runs in the first inning of his start Sunday, but he then pitched four superb innings to begin the current scoreless streak. Kremer followed Tuesday with 6 2/3 shutout frames in the Orioles’ 1-0 win over the Nationals, and Bradish kept the streak going with six scoreless in Wednesday’s 4-0 triumph. The bullpen also combined for 9 1/3 scoreless innings in the three victories, and Wells, who starts Friday against the Detroit Tigers, pitched 5 1/3 innings in his start last week.
Manager Brandon Hyde hopes the recent stretch of success — with the caveat that the previous two wins came over a Nationals team that entered the year projected to be the sport’s worst — could signal a turning of the corner for a rotation that was averaging less than five innings per start a week ago.
“We’re seeing them early on in their careers, gonna have ups and downs,” Hyde said. “It’s gonna be a lot of fun, honestly. These guys are competing. When it gets to that point where they’re kind of competing within each other — we got to that point last year — and I think it’s gonna be soon.”
Baltimore Orioles Insider
Weekly
Want to be an Orioles Insider? The Sun has you covered. Don't miss any Orioles news, notes and info all baseball season and beyond.
When asked if Kremer’s start was one of the best Hyde’s seen from him, he said it was, but referenced the right-hander’s shutout of the Houston Astros in September as another. That game was the last time before this week that the Orioles had back-to-back shutouts, as Kremer followed 8 2/3 scoreless from Bradish the previous day.
This time, it was Bradish who followed Kremer.
“You saw what we could be with Kremer and Bradish the last couple of games,” Hyde said. “Fun to watch young guys sort of come into their own. They both have great stuff.”
Bradish said pitching after Kremer, whom he trains with in the offseason, gives him an advantage when attacking hitters during his start.
“Going behind him, I like to be out there and watch the game,” Bradish said. “Because I know what he’s trying to do, and it helps me prepare for the next outing. Seeing him being out there and having success, he’s a really good competitor and has got really good stuff. It was awesome to see him have that success yesterday.”
More than the results, though, was the plus stuff Rodriguez, Kremer and Bradish displayed in their outings. After his rough first inning, Rodriguez mixed his mid-to-high 90s mph fastball and drop-off-the-table changeup to get 12 swings and misses and eight strikeouts. Kremer then tied his career high with 15 whiffs and struck out six batters with his hard stuff, displaying improved velocity by throwing more pitches faster than 97.0 mph (three) than he had in his entire career (two). Bradish then utilized his curveball and slider to get 11 swings and misses and six punchouts.
“We love the stuff these guys have,” Hyde said. “All of them have bright futures ahead of them.”
