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Orioles manager Brandon Hyde’s assessment of series win will hit Yankees fans hard

Originally posted on ClutchPoints | By Jedd Pagaduan | Last updated 5/3/24

The Baltimore Orioles are on a roll; following their 7-2 win over the New York Yankees on Thursday, they are coming off a huge 3-1 series victory over their closest rival in the AL East standings. And the Orioles, surprisingly, turned to their pitching to lead them to victory. Now, this is not to say that the Orioles have a bad pitching staff, whatsoever. But the Yankees were supposed to field one of the deadliest lineups in the league.

Instead, the Orioles’ arms quieted the Yankees’ bats. Prior to the beginning of their four-game series, the Yankees trailed the Orioles by a mere five runs for the AL lead. At present, the Yankees have slipped to third in the AL after the Orioles allowed only six Yankees batters to cross home plate.

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde hyped up his pitching corps, as he could not have asked for a much better string of games from all of the arms he called upon, and against a tough opponent in the Yankees, no less.

“That might’ve been our best pitched series, honestly. From the starts we got to how the bullpen pitched against a really good offense,” Hyde said, per AP via ESPN.

The Orioles’ most recent pitching performance prior to the start of the recently-concluded Yankees series didn’t give too much hope that they’ll be able to shut down a high-octane New York offense. They allowed seven runs to the Oakland Athletics, the team with the second-worst run tally in the MLB. But Baltimore, against all expectations, managed to turn their series against the Yankees into low-scoring pitching duels.

Orioles rotation and bullpen were on point

The Orioles traded for Corbin Burnes this past offseason so they could have a legitimate ace to front the staff. Now, would you believe it if you heard that the only game the Orioles lost in their series against the Yankees was the one Burnes started?

And that wasn’t even Burnes’ fault; he allowed just two runs in six innings of work, while the Orioles bullpen didn’t allow a hit in the final three innings. Baltimore’s offense simply wasn’t there during their loss on Wednesday.

In the other three games, the Orioles called upon Grayson Rodriguez, Dean Kremer, and the returning Kyle Bradish, all of whom pitched to or above expectations. Rodriguez blanked the Yankees in 5.2 innings on Monday, Kremer allowed just two runs in a workhorse seven innings of work, while Bradish, the Orioles’ best pitcher last season, triumphantly returned from an elbow injury to allow just one run in 4.2 innings of play.

But the big story for the Orioles is the emergence of their bullpen. Their relief corps was on point; in 12.2 innings against the Yankees, the Orioles bullpen combined to pitch to the tune of a 0.71 ERA on 12 strikeouts against just one walk. Keegan Akin continues his strong run as the Orioles’ most consistent arm off the pen, while Jacob Webb looks like a star reliever as he struck out six Yankees batters in just 2.2 innings.

The Orioles are quickly becoming the envy of the entire MLB. Their core of hitters is secure for the next few years, as they have incredible young talent at every position with top-shelf depth in the minors. But now, it seems like their pitching talent is catching up. That is a scary thought for the rest of the league.

This article first appeared on ClutchPoints and was syndicated with permission.

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