BALTIMORE ORIOLES NOTES:
WEDNESDAY’S NEWS: The Orioles fell to the Guardians, 12-8, Wednesday afternoon at Oriole Park…Adley Rutschman went 4-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI, Ryan O’Hearn tied a career high with two doubles, and Aaron Hicks made his O’s debut and was 2-for-2 with two runs scored and a walk before leaving due to muscle cramps in the seventh inning.
Baltimore fell to 5-4 in rubber games this season.
The 12 runs tied a season high (5/26 vs. TEX) and the 17 hits matched a season high (5/15 vs. LAA).
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS: Of Baltimore’s 56 games this season, 50 have been decided by four or fewer runs, tied with Los Angeles-AL for the most in MLB…The O’s have gone 32-18 in those games, the most wins and best winning percentage (.640) in MLB…The O’s are 23-13 in games decided by three or fewer runs, the most wins and best winning percentage (.639) in MLB.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN: The O’s begin a six-game road trip with three games this weekend in San Francisco…After an off day on Monday, the Orioles play three games in Milwaukee from June 6-8…Baltimore is 18-9 (.667) away from Oriole Park, tied with Atlanta for the best winning percentage and tied for the second-most wins on the road in MLB this season…Only Texas (19-12) have more road victories in 2023…The Birds went 38-43 (.469) on the road last year, 14th-best in MLB, after going a combined 114-237 (.325) away from Camden Yards from 2017-21.
AGAINST THE GIANTS: The O’s and Giants meet for the first time since 2019 and for the first time in San Francisco since 2016…The Orioles went 1-2 at Oriole Park from May 31 to June 2, 2019 and took three of four games at Oracle Park (then AT&T Park) from August 12-14, 2016…The Birds have gone 9-9 against the Giants since the teams first met in 2002…The O’s have played just six games against San Francisco at Camden Yards, fewest among active teams.
WHAT’S TRENDING: The O’s have won 26 of their last 40 games, 29 of 44, and 31 of 47…The 35-21 overall record is third-best MLB to start the season (see box at right)… Entering today, the Rays (40-18) and Rangers (35-20) are the only other teams with 35 wins this season.
Last season, the Birds did not collect their 35th win until their 75th game on June 27 (35-40); they did not reach 36 wins until their 80th game on July 3 (36- 44), which was the start of their 10-game winning streak.
APRIL SHOWERS BROUGHT MAY POWER: Anthony Santander slashed .337/.422/.634 (34-for-101) with seven doubles, one triple, seven home runs, 18 runs scored, 22 RBI, and 13 walks in 27 games in May after slashing .213/.280/.362 (20-for-94) with eight doubles, two home runs, eight runs scored, 11 RBI, and 10 walks in 25 games in March/ April; he reached base safely in 24 of 27 games last month and had a hit in 20 of those games, including 11 multi-hit efforts…His 1.056 OPS in May ranked second in the AL and fifth in MLB (see box at right)…For the month, he was also third in the AL and tied for sixth in MLB in RBI, tied for third in the AL in extra-base hits (15), tied for third in the AL and seventh in MLB in total bases (64), fourth in the AL and sixth in MLB in slugging percentage, fifth in the AL and eighth in MLB in on-base percentage, tied for fifth in the AL in hits, sixth in the AL and 10th in MLB in batting average, and seventh in the AL in home runs.
He leads MLB switch hitters in OPS (.857) and slugging percentage (.503).
After not recording a three-hit game through May 24, he has three such games since May 25, including in back-to-back games from May 29-30.
His three extra-base hits (2-2B, HR) on Tuesday night tied his career high for the fifth time (last: 9/27/22 at BOS).
BIG TIME RUTSCH: Adley Rutschman leads the AL with 43 walks, a .411 on-base percentage, and with 101 times on base (58 H, 43 BB) this season while ranking among MLB leaders in walks (2nd), OBP (4th), and TOB (4th)…He ranks among MLB switch hitters in OBP (1st), batting average (2nd, .289), and OPS (2nd) and among primary catchers in OBP (1st), AVG (2nd), and OPS (2nd).
Wednesday marked his fourth, four-hit game this season, most in MLB; it was also his seventh game in 2023 reaching base safely at least four times, also most in MLB.
HAYS OF OUR LIVES: Austin Hays is tied for third in the AL and tied for eighth in MLB with a .311 batting average…He ranks second on the O’s in hits (56) and doubles (13). He leads MLB with a .433 batting average in the seventh inning or later and is the only qualified player currently over .400 in those spots this season; he also leads MLB with a .434 average with two outs.
Hays was named the Fielding Bible Award Co-Defensive Player of the Month for May with Toronto’s Kevin Kiermaier by Sports Info Solutions; he led MLB with 10 Defensive Runs Saved last month.
MOUNT UP: Ryan Mountcastle ranks sixth in MLB with 28 Barrels, per Statcast, trailing only New York-AL’s Aaron Judge (34), Toronto’s Matt Chapman (32), Atlanta’s Matt Olson (30) and Ronald Acuña Jr. (29), and New York-NL’s Pete Alonso (29)…His 38 RBI rank fifth among primary first basemen, trailing only New York-NL’s Pete Alonso (46), Atlanta’s Matt Olson (42), Los Angeles-NL’s Max Muncy (40), and Cleveland’s Josh Naylor (40).
ROSTER MOVES: The O’s recalled Bruce Zimmermann from Triple-A Norfolk today…In a corresponding move, Mychal Givens was placed on the 15-day Injured List with right shoulder inflammation, retroactive to June 1.
TODAY’S STARTING PITCHER – #64 DEAN KREMER RHP
5-2, 4.58 ERA
QUICK HITS: Slated to make his 50th career start tonight; will also be his 12th start of the season, sixth on the road, and first career start against the Giants tonight… Made a career-high 22 appearances (21 GS) in 2022, 11 appearances at home (10 GS), and 11 on the road…Owned an 8-7 record with a 3.23 ERA (45 ER/125.1 IP) and 87 strikeouts…Made six starts of 5.0-or-more scoreless innings, tied for seventh-most in the AL…Acquired by the Orioles along with INF Breyvic Valera, OF Yusniel Diaz, RHP Zach Pop, and INF Rylan Bannon in exchange for INF Manny Machado on July 18, 2018…Originally selected by the Dodgers in the 14th round of the 2016 First Year Player Draft out of UNLV.
LAST TIME OUT: Appeared in his 50th career game in his last start on May 27 vs. Texas…Dealt his second loss of the season after allowing three runs on five hits with two walks and five strikeouts in 6.1 innings of work…Left the game with a runner on base, who later scored…Snapped his three-game winning streak at Oriole Park…Marked his fourth quality start of the season…Threw 97 pitches, 63 strikes.
AGAINST THE GIANTS/NL WEST: Making his first career start against the Giants and the NL West…A California native, Kremer will make his first career start in the Golden State at the Major League level…His last appearance in California came on June 30, 2018 with Single-A Rancho Cucamonga when he was a member of the Dodgers organization.
LIFE ON THE ROAD: Making his sixth road start of the 2023 campaign tonight… Did not factor into the decision in his last start away from Oriole Park on May 21 at Toronto, allowing one run on nine hits (1 HR) with two walks and a career-high-tying seven strikeouts (4x, last: 7/9/22 vs. LAA) in 5.1 innings…Threw a season-high 105 pitches, 64 strikes…Has pitched to a 2-1 record with a 4.15 ERA (12 ER/26.0 IP) in five road starts this season.
INTERLEAGUE WARRIOR: Making his sixth career Interleague start; has gone 4-1 with a 3.18 ERA (10 ER/28.1 IP) and three quality starts in five career outings against the National League…Earned the win in his last Interleague start on May 5 at Atlanta, his first career start against the Braves…Allowed one run on six hits with two walks and three strikeouts in 6.0 innings…Marked his second quality start of the season…Threw 93 pitches, 55 strikes.
‘KREM’ OF THE CROP: Had his career-high scoreless streak snapped at 22.2 innings on July 4, 2022 vs. Texas…Marks the longest scoreless streak by an Orioles starter since Mike Mussina pitched 27.0 scoreless innings from September 21, 1995 to April 2, 1996…The last Orioles pitcher with a scoreless streak of at least 22.2 innings was Steve Johnson, who tossed 25.1 scoreless frames across eight games (three starts) from August 25 to September 29, 2012.
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS NOTES:
TODAY’S GAME: The Giants and Orioles’ all-time series is tied at nine apiece, with Baltimore holding a 7-5 advantage at Oracle Park…SF has won the first game in each of its last six series entering this series…the Giants last game-one loss was on May 8 vs. Washington.
CA-MAY-LO: SF closer RHP Camilo Doval earned the team’s first monthly award of the season after being named the NL Reliever of the Month for May earlier today…Doval led all relievers with 11 saves in May while posting a 1.32 ERA (2er, 13.2ip) and a 0.80 WHIP…this is Doval’s third-career Reliever of the Month award, his first two coming in each of the previous two Septembers…the only other Giant to win the award, which began in 2017, was LHP Jake McGee in July of 2021.
RUH ROH RIGHTY: Baltimore is slated to start three righthanders this series…in April, that would have been a welcomed sight for SF…the Giants posted an .828 OPS vs. righties during the first month of the season, which ranked second in the Majors, while struggling to a .632 OPS vs. lefties (26th)…in May, however, the Giants had a dramatic drop-off against righties (.701 OPS, 21st in MLB), and a nearly opposite improvement vs. southpaws (.775 OPS, 12th).
BREAK OUT THE LITTLE RED MACHINE: Giants pitchers lead the Majors with a 49.9% ground ball rate, more than 3% higher than the next closest team (Tampa Bay, 46.8%)… SF’s three starters this series all rank inside MLB’s top-25 in ground ball rate, with RHP Alex Cobb (60.6%) and RHP Logan Webb (60.3%) ranking first and second, while RHP Anthony DeSclafani sneaks in at 25th with his 44.5% mark.
…OR NOT: Batlimore’s offense offers an interesting challenge for the ground-ball heavy Giants staff…the Orioles offense is tied for the sixth-lowest ground ball rate (40.6%), and hits the ball in the air a lot (eighth with a 39.0% fly ball rate)…Baltimore is not converting its fly balls into homers, with an 11.5% HR/ FB…when opponents do put the ball in the air against SF, it’s leaving the yard at a league-leading rate (15.5%).
PITCHER’S BEST FRIEND: Both the Giants and Orioles have been excellent at turning ground balls with runners on into double plays…Baltimore has turned an MLB-leading 53 double plays, while SF at 49 is tied for second with Colorado nd St. Louis (Stats, LLC)…Stats, LLC goes on to note that the Giants have hit into 32 double plays, which is tied for fourth-fewest, while the Orioles have hit into the sixth-most (47).
SAY MAY: At 17-12, the Giants had the third-best record in the National League last month, trailing only the two teams ahead of them in the NL West standings, the Dodgers (18-10) and Diamondbacks (17-10)…SF’s 3.39 ERA in May was third-best in the Majors, behind San Diego (3.20) and Houston (3.29).
GRAB SOME PINE: SF pitchers struck out 247 batters last month, which narrowly missed out on the franchise’s monthly all-time record of 248 set in Sept. of 2021 and Sept. of 2016 (Stats, LLC)…the 155 strikeouts by Giants pitchers over their last 15 games is their fifth-most strikeouts in a 15-game span in franchise history, trailing only four separate marks set in July of 2019, the most being 165 from July 12-26…Baltimore hitters offer a good challenge as the Orioles have a 21.3% strikeout rate, which is tied for seventh-lowest in the Majors.
FOOL ME ONCE, CAN’T GET FOOLED AGAIN: IF J.D. Davis has the eighth-best OPS in the NL (1.063) and OF Mike Yastrzemski and has the ninth (1.050) when facing a pitcher a second time (min. 30 at-bats)…when given a third chance at pitcher, Yastrzemski’s OPS is 1.181, which ranks sixth in the NL (min. 20 at-bats).
FLICK OF THE RISP: Since May 15, SF has been one of the best teams in the Majors with runners in scoring position.
TODAY’S STARTER – LOGAN WEBB RHP #62
2023 RECORD: 4-5, 2.75 ERA
WITH THE GIANTS: Is in the midst of his fifth season with SF…made his fourth career Opening Day roster and his second consecutive Opening Day start with his outing on March 30 at the Yankees… signed a five-year, $90 million extension on April 14 that keeps him in a Giants uniform through 2028…the contract bought out his final two arbitration years and first three years of free agency. LAST TIME OUT: Continued his recent string of success last Saturday in Milwaukee by spinning 7.0 innings of one-run ball to earn the win in the Giants’ 3-1 victory…Webb struck out 11, his second double-digit strikeout game this season (the other was a career-best 12 strikeouts on Opening Day at Yankee Stadium)…he walked one and allowed only four hits in the 107-pitch effort, his highest pitch count of the season thus far.
CORNER TURNED : Over his last seven starts, Webb has looked more like the 2021-2022 version, posting a 1.68 ERA (9er, 48.1ip) on 37 hits with 11 walks and 48 strikeouts…the peripherals have been better than his first four outings (4.94 ERA, 26 hits, 23.2ip)… in this stretch, Webb’s changeup has been a key as its accounted for 74 of the 145 outs that he’s recorded according to SIS…overall, Webb’s 1.68 ERA since April 22 is fourth-best in MLB behind TEX’s Nathan Eovaldi (1.20), SD’s Michael Wacha (1.46) and DET’s Eduardo Rodríguez (1.65).
I PUT ON FOR MY CITY: Webb has enjoyed pitching here in his home park throughout his career, boasting an 18-12 mark with a 2.84 ERA (77er, 244.0ip) in 42 career starts here at Oracle during the regular season…the Giants have gone 28-14 (.667) in his 42 career regular season starts here…in his last home start here on May 20 vs. Miami, Webb fired 6.0 scoreless innings but the Giants lost 1-0.
I WATCHED A CHANGE…IN YOU: Through his first four starts this year opponents hit .344 with a .563 slugging % off his changeup…in his last seven starts, opposing hitters have gone 15-for-86 (.174) against the pitch with three extra-base hits, 26 strikeouts and five walks…in his last start vs. Milwaukee, Webb threw a career-high 51 changeups that netted him 12 outs (two hits allowed) with seven of the outs being strikeouts.
VS. BALTIMORE: Is making his first career start vs. the Orioles.
APRIL SHOWERS BROUGHT MAY FLOWERS: Webb had one of the best months of May in the modern era according to Stats, LLC.
THE THRILL OF THE CHASE…: This season Webb’s chase rate is 32.7%, up from 30.7% a season ago and much closer to his 32.5% rate during his breakout 2021 campaign…overall, his career chase rate average sits at 30.0%…entering his start today, Webb’s 32.7% chase rate this season is 10th-best in the Majors but fourth-best in the National League among qualified starters.
STAYING GROUNDED: His 60.3 groundball percentage this season is slightly up from last year’s 56.7% mark and above his career average of 57.1%…entering play this afternoon the 60.3 groundball % is just behind teammate Alex Cobb (60.6%) for the MLB lead.
WEBB PITCH ARSENAL / STATCAST INFO (2023)
Pitch Type Usage Percentage Avg. Velo BAA SO
Sinker 41.0% 92.5 mph .301 14
Changeup 33.6% 87.3 mph .214 35
Slider 21.9% 84.4 mph .167 22
4-Seam Fastball 3.5% 92.9 mph .308 5
THIS IS MORE LIKE IT…: After allowing seven homers in his first six starts spanning 37.1 innings to begin the year, Webb has not allowed a homer in his last four starts (27.0ip) and has allowed one overall in his last five starts (34.2ip)…his 2.8 home run percentage is still way above his career norm (1.8%) but it’s at least coming down.
A CONCERNING RECENT TREND…: Over the last 2+ seasons as Webb has come into his own, the Giants as a team are 43-26 (.623) in games that he has started since 2021…however, SF is 4-7 in his 11 starts this season 9-11 in his last 20 starts dating to August 13, 2022…in those 20 starts, Webb has received one or fewer runs of support 10 times…he himself has a 2.50 ERA in those 20 starts while posting an 9.12 K/9ip ratio and a 4.77 K/BB ratio.
THAT’S STRIKEOUTS WITH A K: The righty has whiffed 76 batters in 72.0 innings so far in 2023 (9.5 K/9ip)…his 5.4 K/BB ratio is third-best in the NL…for reference, Webb’s highest K/9 of his career came in his breakout 2021 season where he averaged 9.6 strikeouts per 9.0 innings…looking at this season a different way, Webb is striking out 26.9% of his batters faced (76 strikeouts in 283 batters faced)…last year his strikeout percentage was 20.7%.
EARLY RETURNS: Webb’s 70.3% first-pitch strike percentage is up from last year’s 65.3% average and above his career average of 64.9%…he posted a career-best 66.6% ground ball rate in his breakout 2021 campaign…his 70.3% first pitch strike percentage is sixth-best in the Majors and second-best in the National League.
