The Baltimore Orioles won, again, on Saturday. This time around, they took down the Angels, 1-0, behind strong pitching. Starter Dean Kremer, a 26-year-old right-hander, did the heavy lifting, working five scoreless innings and striking out seven.
It was an RBI single in the fourth for Anthony Santander that gave Kremer and the Orioles' bullpen all the help they'd need. Kremer now has a 2.15 ERA through seven starts. The bullpen has been excellent for a while, too.
That's about all we need to say about this game, specifically, though. Let's instead focus on the fact that I just said, "again" when referencing the Orioles winning.
It's been a while since the Orioles were stringing together wins like they are this season, so it certainly felt odd to throw that "again" in there, but this was their seventh straight victory.
The Orioles haven't won seven in a row in quite a while. They haven't won seven straight since 2017, and another victory would equal their longest winning streak since all the way back in 2005. Here are the Orioles' longest winning streaks per season going back to '05.
2022: 7 (and counting!)2021: 3 (six times)2020: 62019: 42018: 42017: 72016: 7 (three times)2015: 62014: 62013: 52012: 62011: 62010: 4 (seven times)2009: 52008: 62007: 62006: 42005: 8To reiterate, this is tied for the longest Orioles winning streak since April 22-May 1, 2005. In the lineup when that winning streak started were Miguel Tejada, Rafael Palmeiro, Sammy Sosa and Javy Lopez!
Even going to the last time the Orioles won seven in a row, they were a totally different ballclub. It was Adam Jones, Manny Machado, Jonathan Schoop, Dylan Bundy and Kevin Gausman. Brad Brach and Zack Britton were closing down games.
Since then, Orioles fans have had to endure an awful lot of losing. The O's lost 115 games in 2018, 108 in 2019 and 110 in 2021. Those are the three highest loss totals in Baltimore Orioles history (the 1939 St. Louis Browns lost 111 and it's the same franchise, but it wasn't in Baltimore).
The 2022 Orioles are different. Since a six-game losing streak in the middle of May, these Orioles have gone 28-20. Only the Yankees, Astros and Red Sox have been better among AL teams in that stretch.
The Orioles remain in last place, but they have moved up to two games under .500 at 42-44. And though the division is totally out of reach, they entered Saturday's action four games out of the third AL wild card.
Sunday, the Orioles will look to win their eighth straight game. They'll send Austin Voth to the mound against José Suarez of the Angels at 12:05 local time.
The first competitive season coming out of a rebuild is always great fun for fan bases, so Orioles fans are surely having a blast right now.
