Weekly Wrap: May 22nd - 28th

Results and Standings

The Orioles continued their meandering ways, going 4-4 against Miami, Houston, and Chicago. That's not surprising given that they scored 28 runs and allowed 28. They're 22-24, two games back of the Yankees in the bunched-together AL East. The division is separated by 3.5 games, by far the smallest gap in the majors. Their predicted record is still 81-81, which is where it's been for the entire month.

Best Hitter / Worst Hitter

Chris Davis let the baseball world know he's still here with a .200/.323/.640 week. That's good for a 154 wRC+. The three home runs he smashed in the span of two games went a long way towards that line, but so did the five walks. J.J. Hardy is still rounding into form, however, and posted just a .192/.192/.192 line (-1 wRC+).

Best Start / Worst Start

Technically, Ubaldo Jimenez had this week's best start, striking out four and walking one against Miami, but since he only went four innings I'm going to give the honor to Chris Tillman instead. The nominal staff ace pitched seven solid innings against the Astros, striking out five and walking three but giving up no home runs and keeping the ball on the ground. It was not an outstanding performance, but it was a good one. The same can't be said of Miguel Gonzalez, who in his start against the Marlins also went only four innings, striking out two and walking three while giving up a dinger.

Have a Game, Why Don't Ya!

It's not hard to guess who gets this week's award, since it happened so recently. On May 27th against the Houston Astros, Chris Davis had two big home runs that almost singlehandedly won the game. In the bottom of the fourth inning against Colin McHugh and with the game tied 1-1, Davis hit a two-run shot to give the Orioles a 3-1 lead. Later, tied 4-4 and facing lefty Tony Sipp in the bottom of the 8th, Davis cranked another bomb to give the Orioles a 5-4 lead. They won the game by that score.

Breaking a tie will help your team a lot, and doing so twice will make sure you're the star of the game. Overall, Davis increased the Orioles' chance of winning the game by 41%. Aside from David Lough's walkoff home rune earlier in the year, it was the best single-game boost an Orioles player gave this year.

Clutch Relief Appearance of the Week

This would have been Tommy Hunter's Houdini act on May 22nd, where he got out of a severe jam without letting a run score, but Oliver Drake's appearance the very next night was even better. Coming into an 0-0 game in the bottom of the 9th, Drake kept the Marlins off the bases entirely that inning. In the 10th he allowed a single to Adeiny Hechavarria and another to Donovan Solano but worked out of it. In the 11th he was perfect again. The Orioles lost the game 1-0, but it wasn't for lack of trying by Drake, who increased their chance to win by 38.9%.

Upcoming

The Orioles host the Rays for three games then have a quick rematch with the Astros, this time in Houston.