The Baltimore Orioles completed their first two series of the 2022 campaign against the reigning AL East champion Tampa Bay Rays, and the reigning NL Central champion Milwaukee Brewers.
How did the Baltimore Orioles fare against these two division champions to start the 2022 season?
Baltimore Orioles Games 1-3 Recap
Game 1: Tampa Bay Rays 2, Baltimore Orioles 1
Game 1 of the 2022 season was a story of pitching from both teams. Baltimore Orioles ace John Means was only able to complete four innings due to a pitch limit, with the bullpen coming in and finishing the final four innings needed. The Orioles had Bryan Baker, Cionel Perez, and Dillon Tate all come into the game and pitch an inning, with Jorge Lopez and Paul Fry combining to complete the final inning. Tate was charged with the loss. The Orioles were quiet offensively, with Anthony Santander being the only run accounted for the day.
Game 2: Tampa Bay Rays 5, Baltimore Orioles 3
Game 2 was not nearly as much of a pitching duel. The Orioles did only use a pair of pitchers in this game, with Jordan Lyles getting the start, going five innings, and giving up five earned runs, and Keegan Akin being a surprise out of the bullpen, finishing the rest of the game and only giving up one hit.
Offensively, the Orioles had three different players have two hits on the day — Anthony Santander, Jorge Mateo, and Ryan Mountcastle, with Mateo (1) and Mountcastle (2) having the Orioles RBI on the day.
Game 3: Tampa Bay Rays 8, Baltimore Orioles 0
Game 3 was the least competitive game out of this entire series. Tyler Wells, the Orioles setup/closing pitcher in 2021, got the start in this game. Wells struggled and wasn’t able to get out of the second inning, giving up four runs in 1.2 innings pitched. As was commonly seen in 2021, the Orioles needed their bullpen to get through this game. The Orioles used a combination of Felix Bautista, Joey Krehbiel, Bryan Baker, and Paul Fry to get through the final 6.1 innings.
Bautista, making his Major League debut, went 1.1 innings, gave up one hit, and struck out two, hitting nearly 100 mph with his fastball. Krehbiel, Baker, and Fry would pitch the final five innings, with Fry giving up four runs in the two innings he would pitch.
The offensive was extremely quiet, besides for Ryan Mountcastle going 2-for-4 on the day.
Baltimore Orioles Games 4-6 Recap
Game 4: Baltimore Orioles 2, Milwaukee Brewers 0
Game 4 of the season was as much of a pitcher’s duel as Game 1. Bruce Zimmerman was the starter for the Orioles, while the Brewers had Adrian Houser on the bump. Zimmerman’s stat line was 4.0 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 4 K, while Houser gave up 2 ER in 3.2 IP. Following Zimmerman was a combination of Mike Baumann, Dillion Tate, Cionel Perez, and Jorge Lopez to close it out. Baumann would go 2.1 IP, with Tate pitching the following two outs to close out the seventh. Perez would come in in the eighth, giving up one hit and striking out one. Finally, Jorge Lopez came in to close out the ninth, earning his second career save and his first since 2019 with the Royals.
Offensively, the Orioles were quiet in this game, tallying six total hits. Cedric Mullins went 1-for-5 but drove in a pair of runs in the second with a line drive to right center. Anthony Santander went 2-for-2, with two walks and a deep double to right center.
Game 5: Milwaukee Brewers 5, Baltimore Orioles 4
While the score says otherwise, this game was filled with failures for the Orioles, with the biggest dark spot on the night being the Orioles batting 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
Spencer Watkins started the night for the Orioles, going 3 IP, giving up four hits on four runs (one earned). A lot of his runs were scored on errors by himself, second baseman Ramon Urias, and shortstop Chris Owings. The following six innings were pitched by a combination of Keegan Akin (2.2 IP), Felix Bautista (0.2 IP), Cionel Perez (0.2 IP), Bryan Baker (1.0 IP), and Joey Krehbiel (1.0) IP, with Bautista getting the loss.
There were some bright spots in this game, however, including Cedric Mullins hitting his first career grand slam.
Game 6: Milwaukee Brewers 4, Baltimore Orioles 2
In second game of the season for Means, he would again pitch fine, going four innings once again, while giving up two earned runs, but would have to leave early due to a forearm injury.
The story of this game, as has been a majority of the other games this season, is the Orioles’ failure to hit with runners in scoring position. They went 1-for-8 in this game, overall going 3-for-31 in the series against the Brewers with runners in scoring position.
Baltimore was able to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth inning against Devin Williams and Brad Boxberger, but Jorge Lopez came in to attempt to get a hold during the top of the ninth and gave up two runs, allowing the Brewers to win the game 4-2, and win the series 2-1.
Next Series Notes
The New York Yankees (4-3) come into town for a three-game series beginning on Friday night. Game 1 starter is scheduled to be Jordan Lyles, the Game 2 starter is set to be Tyler Wells, and the Game 3 starter is set to be Bruce Zimmerman, barring any injuries or rain delays. We will see if the Orioles are able to improve from their 1-5 start this season.