Nothing Will Get Easier For Slumping Orioles Lineup At Dodgers Stadium

The Orioles’ erratic and enigmatic lineup found things particularly difficult in Seattle this week. It’s likely going to be even tougher this weekend in Los Angeles.

The O’s will see three more excellent young arms from the Dodgers in this series, and an offense that has produced 11 runs in the last five games (1-4) and that doesn’t hit starting pitching all that well to begin with, might be in trouble until the Orioles get to Orange County to face the miserable Angels.

If you just look at season stats for Roki Sasaki and Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Emmet Sheehan – LA’s probable pitchers – you could fool yourself into thinking maybe it’s not as stout at what the Mariners just through at them … and perhaps it’s not. But the Dodgers are a far better team all around than the M’s (with a beat-up lineup), and the Orioles (35-41) are deficient in most areas of play and just 13-22 on the road..

Nothing has come easy all season and we don’t think it will this weekend, either. Here’s why:

Home/Road Splits

The Orioles knocked around the Mariners starters some in Baltimore, but it was a different story in Seattle. These Dodgers starters are the same way, excelling in their home park with a superior pitching environment. Yamamoto (2.52 ERA) is as good a pitcher as there is, already a perennial Cy Young candidate. He’s not a big K guy but his command is impeccable and he isn’t trying to throw everything by you; the exact profile that gives the Orioles fits.

Sasaki has ace stuff but has struggled making the move from Japan. However, his last three starts at Dodger Stadium he has allowed just four earned runs and 11 hits, striking out 22 and walking just four. That’ll play. And Sheehan has an ERA nearly two runs lower at home than on the road and he avoids the longball at home that kills him on the road.

Sheehan has struck out 45 and walked just 10 at Dodger Stadium, while striking out just 27 and walking seven on the road.

Always Playing From Behind

Thursday’s hard-luck starter, Shane Baz, when probed about why this team can’t string together a real winning streak and pair quality pitching with sustained hitting, thought for a minute and then said something fairly profound:

“I feel like jumping out to the lead would help out a lot,” Baz said. He wasn’t trying to point the finger at this jittery lineup. But he probably should.

In the first five innings of road games this season, the Orioles are in the bottom eight in all of MLB in every key metric. They make almost every road starter look like a Cy Young candidate with a slash of .220/.294/.365 away from Camden Yards through the first five innings. Oh, and their 26% strikeout rate is worst in MLB in those situations.

That’s like conceding the first half of every road game. This team lives for the longball. That’s how inept baseball czar Mike Elias wants it and how he builds his Frankenstein rosters year after year and they have a far better time hitting the longball at Camden Yards than on the road. Just 19 road homers all season and they are bottom five in HR/flyball rate on the road.

They went 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position in the Seattle series and it remains an issue for Gunnar Henderson and Pete Alonso and, now pushing July, it begs major questions about it turning around before its too late.

Bottom Of The Rotation

The Orioles throw out two of their worst starters to open the series.

Trevor Rogers doesn’t get enough swing-and-miss to likely hold up against this dominant Dodgers lineup. This isn’t the Padres B-team Sunday lineup or the Mariners, or Red Sox or Blue Jays or Tigers. Notice a trend?

Nope this is the first stacked lineup he’s faced since the Yankees bludgeoned him, and he’s had plenty of struggles against lighter-hitting teams.

And Trey Gibson has not looked like he belongs in the majors, period. He is ridiculously wild, getting Henderson plunked in his last outing because of it, and throwing more balls than strikes for portions of games. They might as well ride things out with him given the state of affairs with a team that’s going nowhere, but it could be another short outing for him.

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