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Orioles hope for more solid pitching from young hurlers

Sep 17, 2008 - 10:07 AM Baltimore (67-82) at Toronto (80-71) 7:07 p.m. EDT

TORONTO (Ticker) -- The Baltimore Orioles' starting pitching has been in shambles. So after consecutive solid performances, the struggling team has to be encouraged with its young hurlers.

Brian Bass takes the mound looking to give Baltimore another strong start against the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday.

Radhames Liz turned in the best start of his young career, tossing eight scoreless innings in Sunday's 7-3 win over the Minnesota Twins and Chris Waters followed with his first complete game shutout on Tuesday.

Even with the performances by Liz and Waters, Baltimore starters are 3-10 with a 7.07 ERA over the last 16 games. Before Sunday, the longest outing by an Orioles starter in that span was a six-inning effort by Garrett Olson on September 8 against the Cleveland Indians.

Aside from having solid outings become a rarity, the Orioles, who are 7-20 over the last 27 games, have been decimated by departures, injuries and inconsistency.

They placed pitcher Jeremy Guthrie on the 15-day disabled list because of an impingement in his right shoulder on Tuesday, and were without closer George Sherrill for most of August - the same time they began their spiral. Erik Bedard's arm has been sorely missed and Daniel Cabrera's gruesome season hasn't helped matters.

The 26-year-old Bass (3-4, 4.84 ERA) had a pedestrian first start, surrendering three runs - one earned - and four hits over 4 1/3 innings against the Indians on Thursday.

He previously had 44 relief appearances with the Twins and one with the Orioles. He was traded on September 5 for a player to be named.

Toronto will counter with David Purcey (3-6, 5.10), who is 2-2 with a 4.88 ERA in six home starts. The righthander has dropped three of his last four decisions and has yet to face the Orioles this season.

With Tuesday's loss, the Blue Jays failed to notch a victory that would clinch at least a .500 finish. With a strong run, they still could post their best record since winning 88 games in 1998.