The first half of the 2024 regular season is coming to an end as we head into the final week before the All-Star break.
The Orioles completed a six-game West Coast road trip against the Seattle Mariners and the Oakland Athletics by winning four of the six games.
As it stands now, the Orioles are 57-33, a season-high-tying 24 games over .500 and ahead of the New York Yankees by three games.
As we head into the final week of the first half, we take a look at who The Great, The Good & The Ugly were this past week, so let’s delve right in.
The Great: Craig Kimbrel
After converting seven of his first 10 saves, Craig Kimbrel has now converted 16 of his last 17 opportunities and is getting more and more dominant in the process.
This week, Kimbrel had four save opportunities, and he converted all four, resulting in four wins for the Birds. Kimbrel’s line for the week shows just how dominating he’s been.
4 G, 4 SVO, 4 SV, 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 HB, 0 BB, 8 SO, 0.00 ERA, 0.25 WHIP, .077 AVG
In 10 outings in the month of June, Kimbrel posted a 0.96 ERA in 10 games, as he is second in the AL with 23 saves.
For the season, the future Hall of Famer has appeared in 38 games, compiling a 5-2 record, a 2.10 ERA and a 0.90 WHIP. Kimbrel, who was snubbed for the All-Star Game, has converted four holds and has saved 23 of 27 opportunities while striking out 52 across 34.1 innings, holding opponents to just a .147 average.
The Good: Grayson Rodriguez
It’s not normal that two pitchers stand out as much as they did this week, but their performances were hard to overlook.
Grayson Rodriguez was given two starts this week, and he made the most of them both. The flamethrower started the West Coast swing and ended it as well, going 2-0 in both starts.
Rodriguez pitched a combined 12.1 innings, eight hits, three earned runs, five walks, 16 strike outs, a 2.19 ERA, a 1.05 WHIP, a .186 BAA and two quality starts.
Both of Rodriguez’s starts also followed a loss, preventing back-to-back losses each time out. It was the third time in his last four starts that Rodriguez had pitched and won after a loss. It was also his sixth quality start in his last seven outings.
Rodriguez improves to 11-3 in 16 games (16 starts), across 94.2 innings pitched this season. He has posted a 1.21 WHIP while holding opponents to a .236 average, striking out 105 batters against 30 walks.
The Ugly: Adley Rutschman
One person I honestly didn’t imagine making this list this season was the heart and soul of the team, Adley Rutschman.
Rutschman slashed .105/.261/.263/.524, scoring just two runs this week. Something that shows Rutschman is just not getting his hits is that he has not struck out in any plate appearances this month.
Rutschman has hit a bit of a slump offensively, so bad that he was given a full off day, only the sixth time in 90 games this season. He has only two hits over his last 19 at-bats. That does include a home run and four RBIs as well as four walks.
The All-Star starting catcher is slashing .284/.345/.459/.804 with 16 home runs and 59 RBIs on the year. He has scored 46 runs and amassed 97 hits and has just one error in 57 games across 494.2 innings, allowing zero passed balls.
The Birds head home to start the final homestand before the Mid-Summer Classic. They will play three games against the Chicago Cubs and three more against the New York Yankees.
Will Rutschman turn things around before the break? Will Kimbrel and Rodriguez’s All-Star snubs fuel their desires even more? Tune in next week, as we bring you the final first half edition of The Great, The Good & The Ugly.
Who stood out to you for the O’s this week? Let us know in the comments below! Make sure to follow The Baltimore Battery on Facebook, Twitter (X) and TikTok, and use the hashtag #baltimorebattery when sharing our content!
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