Baltimore Orioles Aces Playing Catch-up in Thrilling Stat Race

The Baltimore Orioles have a couple of pitchers that are down but not out of an exciting MLB stat race down the final stretch of the season.

Aug 10, 2024; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Corbin Burnes (39) throws a pitch in the first inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. / Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports

The Baltimore Orioles pitching staff has had its fair share of injury issues this season, but a pair of their pitchers are still in the running for an impressive MLB stats race.

As whole, the Orioles have won a lot of games this year, that has kept two key pitchers afloat in the race for the most wins in baseball, as highlighted by MLB's Manny Randhawa. While wins aren't the best stat to determine a pitcher's skill, racking up a lot of them points to helping out a team in winning a lot of games.

The pitcher currently in the lead for wins in the AL is Detroit Tigers superstar Tarik Skubal, who is sitting with 15 so far this season. There are a couple of players with 14, but the closest Baltimore pitcher is actually Grayson Rodriguez with a three-way tie at 13.

Rodriguez is having one of the best sophomore campaigns that the Orioles could have asked for from him. He's sitting with an improved 3.86 ERA over 20 starts this season. The team is 14-6 in games that he's pitched in. He has almost logged twice as many wins as he did during his rookie campaign.

He's pitched similarly successfully as he did last year but has picked up his strikeouts to double digits while cutting slightly back on hits and walks given up.

A stint on the injured list that has kept him out for the entirety of August will likely keep him from grabbing the crown this time.

The 24-year-old figure to be a huge part of the future in Baltimore has he's under team control until the 2030 season.

Currently having one less win is staff ace Corbin Burnes who sits with 12, which is tied for a career-high. The Orioles are 17-10 during the games in which he has pitched.

Burnes was one of the biggest free-agent signings of this past offseason, and is set to do it again at the conclusion of this year. He's made the most out of what is possibly his only year with Baltimore, though.

For a long stretch this season, he was a real Cy Young candidate. As of now, that award seems like a virtual lock to go to Skubal. The 29-year-old could have likely been a bit more in this race if it weren't for a recent cold stretch that has put him behind pace of the Tigers star.

He's had a 7.36 ERA in the month of August and has picked up a loss in his last three outings. His last game against the Los Angeles Dodgers was promising, though, maybe a good sign for the upcoming stretch of games.