BALTIMORE—Shane Baz will start for the Orioles on Sunday. The 27-year-old -righthander, who’s tied with Cleveland’s Tanner Bibee and San Francisco’s Landen Roupp for the most losses in baseball, 13, has pitched much better than his record indicates.
Baz is 4-13 with a 4.02 ERA. The Orioles are scoring fewer than 3.36 runs per game when Baz pitches.
“Honestly, I think I can do a whole lot better,” Baz said. “When you score first as a team, you should be able to hold that lead. You’re not always going to, but I feel like I should be able to. I feel like I’m good enough to hold that lead.”
Baz has the third-worst run support of any starter in baseball. Only Bibee and the New York Yankees’ Ryan Weathers have been supported less.
“I feel like I can go toe-to-toe with any starter in the league of not giving up first blood, not giving up runs first,” Baz said. “I think I haven’t done a good job of that. That being said, I feel like I’ve minimized damage really well this year.
“But I feel like I can pitch a whole lot better, especially with game scenarios, not putting us at a deficit early, and the offense having to change their approach. I think I can improve, once we have a lead, being able to keep it and not giving up runs first.”
He’s thrown 11 quality starts and won only three of them. His last win was 11 starts ago on June 12th.
“It’s a tough stat,” Baz said of his recorde. “It doesn’t always tell the whole story. I feel like I’ve done a good job of limiting the walks, especially after the first month.”
Baz has struck out 8.2 batters per nine innings and walked 3 per nine while allowing just 11 home runs in 145 2/3 innings.
“Limiting the walks, taking the strikeouts when they come and keeping the ball in the yard,” Baz said. Those are three things that a lot of pitchers can kind of control, and I feel like I’ve done a good job at that, so I try not to look at records and stuff.”
Manager Craig Albernaz is skeptical of certain stats.
“That’s why the win/loss record for pitchers is not really factored into the Cy Young [Award] anymore,” Albernaz said. “You can’t control the wins and losses when you’re pitching as far as run support. Every time Shane’s pitched, we haven’t really given him he best run support.
“The record’s not indicative of how he’s performing. He’s throwing the ball really good. The growth that he’s shown, especially with adding pitches and mixing locations, and being a full rounded pitcher has been really fun to watch.”
Orioles-Rays lineups:
Orioles
Jackson Holliday-2B
Pete Alonso-DH
Coby Mayo-1B
Tyler O’Neill-RF
Gunnar Henderson-SS
Christian Encarnacion-Strand-3B
Ryan Franklin-LF
Leody Taveras-CF
Carlos Narváez-C
Brandon Young-RHP
Rays
Yandy Diaz-DH
Jonathan Aranda-1B
Chandler Simpson-LF
Junior Caminero-3B
Liam Hicks-C
Jonny DeLuca-RF
Richie Palacios-2B
Cedric Mullins-CF
Taylor Walls-SS
Shane McClanahan-LHP
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