masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgCHICAGO – As Chris Tillman tries to begin to pitch better for the Orioles, he needs to start at the start. Tillman (1-4, 8.01 ERA) has allowed a first-inning ERA of 16.71 on the season. Over seven first innings, he has given up 13 runs and 16 hits, including four of his seven homers.
Tillman has made seven 2017 starts. He did not allow a run in the first inning of his first three. But now, over his last four starts, he was scored on each time in the first inning. In those games, he allowed 13…

CHICAGO – As Chris Tillman tries to begin to pitch better for the Orioles, he needs to start at the start. Tillman (1-4, 8.01 ERA) has allowed a first-inning ERA of 16.71 on the season. Over seven first innings, he has given up 13 runs and 16 hits, including four of his seven homers.

Tillman has made seven 2017 starts. He did not allow a run in the first inning of his first three. But now, over his last four starts, he was scored on each time in the first inning. In those games, he allowed 13 of his 21 runs in the opening inning.

tillman-throws-grey-sidebar.jpgIn his most recent start on Saturday at New York, Tillman allowed a career-worst nine runs over just 1 1/3 innings. He threw 45 pitches, 21 for strikes. He gave up six runs in the first, including homers to Aaron Judge and Didi Gregorius. That was Tillman’s shortest start since he went one inning on June 5, 2014 versus Texas.

He faced the White Sox last month in Baltimore. In fact, he made his season debut on May 7 against Chicago. He went five scoreless on three hits with three walks and four strikeouts.

Left-hander David Holmberg (1-0, 2.74 ERA) today makes his 12th appearance and fourth as a starter for the White Sox.

His first eight games came out of the bullpen and he gave up one run over 10 1/3 innings for an ERA of 0.87. His last three games have been starts and he has gone 1-0 with a 4.26 ERA.

The Orioles snapped a six-game losing streak and 11-game road losing with last night’s win. They are 32-32 and 6 1/2 games back of the first-place Yankees, who have lost the last two nights to the Angels.

Now 1-6 on a road trip that ends today, the Orioles return home after this game to begin a seven-game homestand on Friday night against the Cardinals and Indians.