Observations from O’s rough stretch

The Orioles' offense was already on shaky ground heading into Friday night, having been shut out in two of their past three games ahead of their second homestand of the season. Then they ran into a team possessed.

The result was Friday’s 3-1 loss to the red-hot A’s, who extended their MLB-best win streak to 12 games behind a strong Cole Irvin start and Ramón Laureano solo home run. Both came at the expense of losing pitcher Jorge López and the O’s sputtering offense, which stranded runners in six separate innings and wasted five shutout frames from their upstart bullpen.

“We had opportunities,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Just didn’t get the big hit. We have to move the ball with runners in scoring position and we’re punching out too often.”

All told, it was the Orioles’ seventh loss in eight tries this season at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. They’ve scored one run over their last 19 offensive innings, managing just two extra-base hits during that span.

For a deeper dive, here are some observations from Friday’s loss:

López hurt by the long ball

With his head in his hands in the Orioles’ dugout, López's frustration was plain to see. He’d just been pulled after surrendering a homer to Laureano to lead off the fifth -- the latest in what’s growing into a staggering amount of long balls allowed by López.

No pitcher is immune to the home run in 2021, but López is especially susceptible -- he has surrendered six in just 17 2/3 innings this season and 40 in 180 1/3 innings dating back to 2019. That’s the 15th most among active pitchers over that span, but the 14 above him have thrown at least 29 more innings. He’s allowed at least one home run in eight consecutive starts.

“We all know how locked in they’ve been,” López said of the A’s. “I get hurt when I leave the ball up, and those guys are waiting for a mistake.”

The relievers are keeping the momentum

The Orioles' ‘pen isn’t seeing regression after breaking out, in a small sample, as a top 10 bullpen during the shortened 2020 season. It’s showing improvement, and it's sustaining it as a unit. Their five shutout innings Friday extended a streak of 12 2/3 consecutive scoreless dating back to last weekend, which eight different pitchers have contributed to. As of Friday’s final out, the ‘pen ranked sixth among AL teams in ERA, fifth in WHIP and fifth in batting average against.

“I’m really pleased with how our ‘pen is pitching,” Hyde said. “They are keeping us in almost every single game.”

The standout on Friday was Cole Sulser, who breezed through 1-2-3 innings in the seventh and eighth, striking out three. Sulser is unscored upon in four outings this season with 10 strikeouts and no walks across 6 1/3 innings. Sulser opened 2020 as the O’s closer but lost his job in mid-August, finishing the year with a 5.56 ERA.

Where is the lumber?

The real difference in Friday’s game came in the second when the A’s thrice made contact, scoring the game’s first two runs on Seth Brown’s groundout and Stephen Piscotty’s single. The O’s struggled to put the ball in play with men on, striking out four times with runners in scoring position and leaving 10 men on base overall.

Their lone run-scoring hit came via Pedro Severino’s sixth-inning single, after Ryan Mountcastle struck out with the bases loaded. It was Severino’s first hit with runners in scoring position on the year, while Mountcastle broke an 0-for-20 stretch with a single earlier in the night. He’s hitting .174 with 23 whiffs in 69 at-bats.

“Up, down, away -- we’re chasing too often,” Hyde said. “We need to make better decisions at the plate. I think a lot of our guys are pressing, and there are a lot of reasons why we’re not coming through in big spots. Bottom line is: We need to stop swinging at pitchers' pitches and be ready for the pitches in the strike zone.”

Part of it is the loss of Anthony Santander, who left a large hole atop the O’s lineup when he landed on the injured list Saturday with a badly sprained left ankle. Another part of it is a team-wide propensity to expand the strike zone with runners in scoring position -- they’ve left 26 runners on and struck out 33 times over their past four games. Baltimore’s 190 total strikeouts are tied for fifth most in the AL.