O's game blog: The series and homestand finale

The Orioles and New York Yankees have exchanged wins at Camden Yards this weekend. The Orioles won 2-1 in 11 innings Friday night in a four hour, 15-minute game. And the Yankees won 5-2 last night in a game twice delayed by rain.

The Orioles (2-6) continue to struggle to produce offense. They have scored two runs or fewer six times in eight games and scored just 16 runs for the year. They are 2-3 on this homestand that ends today and have scored 12 runs in those games. The O’s season high for runs in a game is the four they scored in the second game of the Milwaukee series, in a 5-4 loss.

They scored their runs last night on one swing. Cedric Mullins absolutely crushed a two-run homer to right against New York right-hander Jameson Taillon in the O’s third inning to produce a 2-0 lead. Mullins drilled No. 2 on the year and it went 433 feet with an exit velocity of 107 mph. The blast came on a 3-0 pitch.

Right-hander Tyler Wells gave the O’s a good start last night before the pitch count got him lifted. He threw four scoreless innings on three hits with two walks and three strikeouts. He threw 64 pitches and lowered his ERA to 6.35.

Lefty Bruce Zimmermann, who was on the mound when this homestand began Monday, will be on the mound when it ends this afternoon.

Zimmermann pitched four scoreless innings on opening day in Baltimore on Monday afternoon as the Orioles beat Milwaukee 2-0. The product of Loyola Blakefield and Towson University allowed three hits with two walks and four strikeouts on 66 pitches. He used his fastball 44 percent and had a strong pitch mix in his 15^th career O’s start.

Last season Zimmermann went 4-5 with a 5.04 ERA. He was quite solid at Oriole Park, going 3-2 with a 3.89 ERA and 1.327 WHIP in seven games.

For the 2021 season, he threw 64 1/3 innings, allowing 75 hits, and posted a 1.508 WHIP with a 3.1 walk rate and 7.8 strikeout rate. He made 13 starts and the Orioles went 4-9 in those games.

Zimmermann used his fastball 42 percent of the time last season with an average velocity of 91.5 mph and threw his changeup 26 percent, slider 19 percent and curveball 13 percent. In nine career games at Camden Yards, he is 3-2 with a 4.32 ERA and 1.344 WHIP.

In two career games versus the Yankees, Zimmermann is 1-1 with a 4.82 ERA and 1.393 WHIP over 9 1/3 innings, allowing 11 hits and five runs.

The Yankees starter today is lefty Nestor Cortes, a pitcher taken by the Orioles from New York in the December 2017 Rule 5 draft. But he allowed four runs and 10 hits in 4 2/3 innings to start the 2018 season with the Orioles and was sent back to the Yankees on April 14, and they assigned him then to Double-A.

The 27-year-old was good last year. Over 22 games and 14 starts, he went 2-3 with a 2.90 ERA in 93 innings with 25 walks and 103 strikeouts. He posted a 1.075 WHIP while allowing 7.3 hits and 1.4 homers per nine, and had a 2.4 walk rate and 10.0 strikeout rate. Lefty batters hit just .228 with a .679 OPS against him, and right-handers batted .214/.653.

He began his 2022 season in fine fashion, throwing 4 1/3 scoreless against Toronto on Tuesday as the Yankees won 4-0. He gave up three hits with no walks and five strikeouts on 72 pitches. Cortes seems to be throwing a bit harder than when he was an Oriole. His average velocity in his season debut was 91.4 mph and he touched 94. He threw his fastball 30 times and added 23 cutters and 11 sliders.

In two starts last season against Baltimore, he went 0-0 with a 1.50 ERA, allowing seven hits and two runs in 12 innings with a 0.917 WHIP. He walked four and fanned 18.

After today’s game the Orioles head to the West Coast for a seven-game road trip to Oakland to play the Athletics and to Anaheim to face the Los Angeles Angels.