The Baltimore Orioles fell to 5-4 after losing two out of three to the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park over the weekend.
It was an enormously frustrating series for the Orioles, who easily could have swept the three games with some timelier hitting. Instead, they suffered back-to-back one-run losses, losing in extra innings on Saturday and in the ninth inning on Sunday.
Since dominating its first two games of the season against the Los Angeles Angels, Baltimore has gone just 3-4 against the Angels, Pirates and Kansas City Royals — three of the worst teams in baseball last year. The offense, which started out like gangbusters, is largely to blame.
It’s hard to find fault with the pitching staff, which has yet to allow more than four runs in a nine-inning game. The Orioles’ hurlers have yet to allow more than five runs, keeping the team in every game.
The same can not be said for the bats, however, which have managed just 23 runs over the past seven games (3.3 runs per game). A couple of concerning trends have emerged as well,
