{"id":102422,"date":"2025-06-18T22:37:36","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T02:37:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=102422"},"modified":"2025-06-18T22:37:36","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T02:37:36","slug":"orioles-pitching-staff-finally-improvin-june","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/06\/18\/orioles-pitching-staff-finally-improvin-june\/","title":{"rendered":"The Orioles Pitching Staff is Finally Getting it Together in June"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Baltimore Orioles’ pitching staff looked defeated and wilted after the first two months of the 2025 season. Nearing the end of May, the team held<\/a> the second-worst ERA in the majors and held a -2.5 WAR rating. Their bullpen was also floundering, with Gregory Soto and Seranthony Dominguez failing to live up to expectations.<\/p>\n

In the month of June, however, the Orioles seem like a new team on the mound. While still near the bottom, the team’s ERA now ranks<\/a> fifth-worst alongside their WHIP. It’s not a quantum leap or a significant improvement, but it’s a start for a team that went into the season with World Series aspirations.<\/p>\n

Orioles Pitching Staff Having Strong June After Rough Start<\/h2>\n

Overall Staff<\/h3>\n

In their last 15 games<\/a>\u00a0at the time of writing, the Orioles hold a 10-5 record with a 3.07 ERA and 1.17 WHIP. It marks a very notable improvement from May<\/a>, when the team possessed an ugly 5.25 ERA and 1.36 WHIP. It’s an even better number than the 5.47 ERA and 1.58 WHIP the team held in April and the first game in March.<\/p>\n

The pitching staff’s home runs ratio through nine innings has finally plunged back to the one-per-nine threshold after being near two for the first months of the season. In addition, the team’s walk rate has dipped to around 2.5 per nine innings, and the strikeout-to-walk ratio jumped to nearly five. Every single performance metric is suggesting a major improvement across the board.<\/p>\n

When looking at the actual hitting statistics<\/a> against the staff, the opposing OPS is under .700 while the OBP sits under .300 for the month. The only real metric that regressed is batting average on balls in play, but it’s really the only blemish for a staff that desperately needed a turnaround month.<\/p>\n

Rotation<\/h3>\n

No pitcher in the league needed a stellar June more than 41-year-old Charlie Morton<\/a>. Near the end of May, the veteran right-hander sported a dismal 7.68 ERA along with a 1.756 WHIP. His walk rate ballooned to five per nine innings while his strikeout rate regressed rapidly.<\/p>\n

In his last four games since May 17, Morton won three of them. Aside from his June 7 start against the Athletics, he hasn’t surrendered more than two walks in his starts. In fact, he struck out ten Los Angeles Angels in his June 13<\/a> start.<\/p>\n

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A 10-strikeout night for the 41-year old Charlie Morton! pic.twitter.com\/Q8EGVBYxgX<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 MLB (@MLB) June 14, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n