Had report cards been due a week ago, this mark would have been a smidge higher, thanks in part due to a euphoric stretch in mid-April during which the O’s sat near the top of the board in several key categories.
And they’ve seen waiver claims and past Rule 5 Draft picks perform well, highlighted by Spenser Watkins’ 4 2/3 frames with one run allowed on Saturday.
That’s because of truly sensational starts to the year from López, Dillon Tate, Cionel Pérez, Joey Krehbiel, Keegan Akin and others.
But still: Rougned Odor is batting .180 across 50 at-bats, Chris Owings is 2-for-18 with 12 strikeouts and Ramón Urías is garnering some of the worst luck of any batter this season.
Santander burst onto the scene to open the year, with an on-base streak of 19 games that ended on Thursday in New York.
It was Mullins, now batting just .210, who broke up Eovaldi’s no-hit bid with a double in the sixth inning as part of a two-double night.
Expectations were modest for the offensive production from Chirinos and Anthony Bemboom this season, neither batting above .200 through 21 games.
Pick the runners-in-scoring-position woes, pick the homer woes, pick the overall scoring woes.
The new left-field wall is playing a small factor — Mountcastle was the first to solve it on Friday — but that doesn’t change the fact that only three times this season have the Orioles seen one of their batters collect more than two hits in a contest.
If Saturday was a somewhat microcosmic game for the Orioles en masse, Thursday in New York was one for the defense.