More good pitching and more with the Nevins

It was another night, another win and another evening of solid Orioles pitching from beginning to end of the game. They have now won five straight after Thursday’s 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels to get to 40-44. They are 10-5 over the last 15 games and 16-9 over the past 25 games.

Right-hander Jordan Lyles was the latest O’s starter to provide a quality start, something Baltimore's pitchers have now done in six of the last nine games. Lyles allowed just one run in six innings plus one batter as he improved to 5-7 and lowered his ERA to 4.50. He has produced three quality starts over his last four outings, pitching to an ERA of 2.81 in that span.

And O’s starting pitchers are on quite a roll right now. They have allowed one earned run or less in 15 of the last 20 games, pitching to an ERA of 2.46 in that span.

Orioles pitchers have allowed two runs or less 12 times in the last 20 games and the club is 11-1 in those dozen games. So yeah, pretty good.

Overall, Baltimore pitchers have allowed 45 runs the last 15 games and 58 over the past 20. 

Father and son together this weekend in Baltimore: To be in the Orioles dugout for about 20 minutes yesterday with a large group of reporters interviewing Phil and Tyler Nevin was a rare and special experience.

Phil was recently named interim manager of the Angels, replacing Joe Maddon. His son Tyler was excited that his dad was going to manage a big league team for the first time. The father has always been pretty proud of his son Tyler, and said he first knew he could play in the big leagues when he watched him in the 2018 Arizona Fall League.

This weekend at Camden Yards we should see father manage against son in this series. That has not happened in the majors since 2017 when Boston manager John Farrell was skipper against a Reds team that included his son Luke. And before that not since the 2003-2004 seasons when then-Giants skipper Felipe Alou managed against a Cubs team that included his son Moisés for 12 games. 

But until Thursday night, Phil had never even been in the stadium for one of Tyler’s big league games. And he had not even seen him play in pro ball at all since 2019 when he watched him a few times at Double-A. 

But now this weekend, he might manage against his son. We say might because Phil still has one more game to serve on a 10-game suspension tonight for his part in the Angels brawl with the Seattle Mariners that led to 12 player suspensions.

But whether the father will have to make a managerial move to try and get his son out in a key moment in a game is less important than the fact that the two were together in one dugout for that time on Friday. It was clear to see how close they are and how proud son is of father and father is of son.

“I just know I’m proud of him for doing something that he has always wanted to do,” said Phil, who was the No. 1 overall draft pick in 1992 and had a 12-year big league career. “It didn’t have to be baseball for me. He made a comment (I would be proud of him) if he were a painter. I just know the things that make me the most proud are when I stand out here and one of their (Orioles) coaches was telling me how great a teammate he is and how hard he works. I have umpires telling me how great of a kid he is on the field. Kid, man now. Teammates talk about what a great teammate he is. That is what I’m most proud about. He has wanted this his whole life and that is great, but how he’s gone about it. I know the work he has put in.”

The older Nevin remembers how Tyler would come to games when he managed in the minors wearing his baseball jersey and seemed glued to every pitch.

“He watched the game, he observed the game," he said. "And when I was managing in the minor leagues, he could still recite to you the players that I had that were supposed to be superstars and never made it. And then guys that weren’t supposed to be maybe that great of a big leaguer and became that. He watched how they work, their attention to detail and that is one thing that got him to this point. He understands that part and he’s always been a student of it. That is one of the things I’m most proud of is the approach he took and how he got here. And his love for the game.”

Tyler said hearing his dad say those things about him was not new. His father tells him that a lot, just another example of how close these two are.

“That is why this (weekend) is so special I think. Because our relationship is so close. It’s just something we came up with together. It’s our mission in a way and it hits home to hear it every time,” Tyler said.