The Baltimore Orioles Month of April Recap
With the first month of the season in the books, lets take a look back at the Orioles season up to this point. In the month of April, the Birds went 12-14 with most of their competition being against the A.L. East. The Orioles went 4-10 home at Camden Yards and 8-4 on the road. The Orioles opened up the season sweeping the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. The winning streak ended shortly thereafter, dropping five of their next six games in series against the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. Baltimore played two double headers in their series against the Seattle Mariners where they dropped three out of four games. The club got back to their winning ways in their next two series against the Texas Rangers and Miami Marlins taking three out of five games. The month concluded with series against the Oakland Athletics and the New York Yankees where the club went 4-4 to end the month.
We cannot talk about the start of the season without first mentioning OF Cedric Mullins. Mullins is leading the team in average, runs, OBP, slugging, OPS, hits, doubles, and BB. Mullins stat line is a .321 AVG, 4 HR, and 9 RBIs. Mullins has been one of the best leadoff hitters in baseball this year and has been fun to watch in the outfield. On April 4th Mullins went five-for-five, including three doubles and a walk. On April 10th, Mullins robbed Red Sox OF Kike Hernandez of a homerun. On April 26th, Cedric hit two homeruns against the Yankees. The month of April has been kind to Cedric Mullins, who has been a spark at the top of the lineup for the Orioles.
Pitcher Matt Harvey has also been a wonderful surprise this season after signing with the Orioles on a one year deal. Harvey started six games in April, throwing 31 innings. Harvey’s record is 3-1 with a 4.06 ERA and 22 strikeouts. Harvey used to be one of the most dominate pitchers in the MLB. During the 2015 World Series with the New York Mets, Harvey had two starts going 14 IP with a 3.21 ERA accumulating 11 strikeouts. Ever since then “The Dark Night” has struggled and became a journeyman playing for the Reds, Angels, Royals, and now the Orioles. If Harvey continues to pitch well this season expect many teams to be after him in free agency.
We have also seen the return of First Baseman Trey Mancini in the 2021 season. Trey hasn’t lost a beat as he is leading the Orioles in homeruns and RBIs. Mancini’s stat line is a .243 average, five homeruns, and 21 RBIs. Having Mancini back with the team has been vital to the teams success this year. Trey is a clubhouse guy and provides veteran leadership on and off the field.
Looking forward to the month of May, the Orioles have their work cut out for them, ending April in last place inside the division. The good news is that the Orioles are only 3.5 games out of first place and can still get back into the division race. Behind strong pitching performances this year by John Means and Matt Harvey the Orioles have a solid one two punch that can help them win any series moving forward.