Orioles 14, Tigers 1
Cashner challenges numbers game
Performance will test stats in season
The symmetry, however, was too clear to ignore.
On a day when manager Brandon Hyde spoke pregame about how in-game decisions regarding whether starting pitchers would get to face a batting order a third time when they’re statistically shown to be more vulnerable, Cashner dazzled and got better as he went along while turning over the Tigers’ lineup exactly twice, only to be lifted because he got up to the prescribed 75-pitch mark and the Orioles had four other pitchers scheduled for the four remaining innings.
Were that not the case, Hyde would have been faced with a conundrum that certainly haunted the Orioles last year more than most teams — whether starters should face hitters a third time in a game — and he was pretty clear on where he’d come down on it.
“All those numbers — I came from a heavy analytical team, and [was] very privy in being involved in those conversations and those discussions and why those are important,” said Hyde, the former Chicago Cubs bench coach. “It opened my eyes a lot, the last four years, being there and watching us have success. I’m open to everything, and I want all the information and I want projected numbers and I want projected third-time-through-the-order stuff and I want projected splits. I want all that stuff.”
That won’t take general feel for factors like the game situation, the score, the rest status of the bullpen, and what he sees from his pitcher out of the equation. Cashner was absolutely cruising and, in a 6-1 game in May, would have almost certainly stayed in the game to keep going. He had the stuff to do it.
“It kind of finally all came together today,” Cashner said.
After a home run by Nicholas Castellanos in the first inning, Cashner settled in. He faced the minimum 12 batters after a leadoff single in the second inning.
“I thought after that, I really commanded the four-seam both sides of the plate,” Cashner said. “I thought my changeup got a lot better as the game went on, and I thought my curveball got a lot better as the game went on.”
Hyde said after the game that it was the type of outing that could challenge whatever data-driven decisions he plans to make during the season.
“There’s a lot of variables obviously in the third time through the order statistic, but I thought Cash was actually getting stronger as the game went on,” Hyde said. “That plays into it too. He was keeping his [velocity]. He threw a ton of four-seamers today that had hop and life at the end. Getting by guys, hitting spots. He threw the ball really well.”
Spinning a start like this — five innings, one run — 20-something times this season would make for a career renaissance season for Cashner, who pitched well for stretches in 2018 but too often remained in games to the point that it harmed his final statistics. He stopped missing bats the third time through, and opponents’ OPS climbed from .862 to 1.027 between turns two and three.
Last year’s Orioles starters faced batters a third time the 10th-most times in the majors, and though the 5.76 ERA in that split is flattered only by their 5.77 ERA the second time through the order, both the Orioles starters’ WHIP (1.537 to 1.742) and opposing hitters’ OPS (.851 to .974) increased substantially.
Hyde said that those types of statistics were some of several indicators that would dictate such decisions this year.
The scoring opened when the starters were still in the game, with Jonathan Villar and Trey Mancini hitting RBI triples consecutively off Tigers starter Jordan Zimmermann.
Hyde frequently said this spring that he wants everyone to play at some point in a position that he might occupy during the season. While there are several other candidates to play right field in the time remaining in Orioles camp, with Joey Rickard the leader, Jackson could be just as much a fourth outfielder as he is a utility infielder after Austin Hays and Anthony Santander were cut from major league camp Sunday.
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