Five times this season Jake Arrieta has thrown at least six innings and allowed zero or one run, but unfortunately he’s given up at least four runs in his other 13 starts and the Orioles have finally seen enough.
Arrieta’s latest clunker was last night versus the Angels, as he failed to make it out of the fourth inning and fell to 3-9 with a 6.19 ERA before the Orioles demoted him to Triple-A.
Baltimore showed quite a bit of patience with Arrieta because he’s a former top prospect who’s still just 26 years old, every few weeks he’s hurled a gem, and his 89/31 K/BB ratio in 101 innings overall is actually pretty solid, but at some point a contending team can’t keep throwing away games.
He’ll be back in the second half, although with a 5.27 ERA in 58 career starts it’s worth wondering whether the Orioles should see if Arrieta’s raw stuff would play up better in the bullpen.
