Dylan Bundy of the Baltimore Orioles. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
After traveling to Anaheim and winning two games in their three-game series against the Angels, Baltimore struggled in Houston. The Baltimore Orioles (26-18) were swept in their three-game series against the Houston Astros (19-28). The series was a costly one in the AL East standings for the O’s. The team also struggled at the plate striking out 52 times. This strikeout total set a record as the highest amount during a three-game series in MLB history.
Baltimore Orioles Struggle in Houston
The first game of the series took place on Tuesday, May 24th. Houston’s Doug Fister pitched 5.2 innings for the Astros while Chris Tillman of the Orioles pitched for 7.0 innings. Baltimore’s Pedro Alvarez opened the scoring in the top of the fifth inning with a home run. Houston’s Luis Valbuena homered at the bottom of the inning to drive home Evan Gattis to give the Astros the 2-1 lead. Manny Machado tied it up at the top of the sixth. The game would go into extra innings until Carlos Correa drove home Tony Kemp in the bottom of the 13th inning to seal the 3-2 victory with Orioles’ Dylan Bundy pitching.
"This hasn’t been fun. I saw we set the record for strikeouts in a three-game series. Let’s get the hell out of Houston.” -Jones
— Britt Ghiroli (@Britt_Ghiroli) May 27, 2016
Baltimore’s struggles continued in game two on Wednesday, May 25th with the team amassing four errors. To put this in perspective, in 45 games this season the Orioles have 23 total errors. Gattis and Valbuena hit home runs for the Astros, pitcher Pat Neshek earned the win and Luke Gregerson got the save in Houston’s 4-3 victory. Mark Trumbo, Chris Davis, and Machado scored runs for Baltimore and pitcher Tyler Wilson got the loss. This loss allowed the Boston Red Sox to move ahead of the O’s in the AL East.
#Orioles are a game out of first place for the first time this season.
— Rich DubroffMLB (@RichDubroffMLB) May 25, 2016
The O’s had just five hits in the third and final game of the series. Baltimore scored only twice with runs scored by Hyun Soo Kim and a home run by Trumbo. The Birds struggled mightily at the plate striking out 15 times. RF George Springer had a big game with two home runs and Valbuena added another to help Houston win by a 4-2 score. Lance McCullers secured the victory while Ken Giles earned his first save of the season. Orioles’ pitcher Kevin Gausman got the loss.
Orioles and AL East
The three losses to the Astros were a tough pill to swallow for the Orioles. Baltimore now sits two games behind the Boston Red Sox in the AL East. Boston has gone 6-4 in their last ten games while the Orioles have a 3-7 record in their last ten. Baltimore will get a fresh start tonight when they begin another three-game road series against the Cleveland Indians.
Divisional opponents await the O’s in their schedule with a four-game home stand against the Red Sox beginning on May 30th. This will be followed by another divisional three-game series starting on June 3rd at Camden Yards against the New York Yankees.
The Birds cannot risk falling further behind in the AL East and need to get back on the winning track. Only seven games separate the first place Red Sox from the Tampa Bay Rays who currently are the AL East’s last place team. While there is plenty of time left in the season, the next stretch of games for the O’s are important and will weigh heavily on the AL East standings.
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