With 12 more K's, Grayson rocks and rolls for Tides

Grayson Rodriguez didn’t let his struggles at the big league level carry over back to Triple-A when he returned to the level in early June.

A month later, the Orioles former top prospect looks like he’s knocking down the big league door once again.

Rodriguez turned in another gem Tuesday, striking out 12 over six scoreless innings before Norfolk’s bullpen allowed six ninth-inning runs in the Tides’ 6-5 loss to Durham. It was the latest and most dominant in a string of excellent outings for Rodriguez, who shaved his ERA to 1.84 in six starts since enduring a difficult 10-start big league debut.

He’s racked up 51 strikeouts against only 12 walks in those six starts, returning to Triple-A with a flourish.

Rodriguez was sharp from the start Tuesday, retiring 10 of his first 11 hitters and then whiffing six of his final nine. Orioles No. 6 prospect Connor Norby and No. 16 prospect César Prieto notched run-scoring hits as Norfolk scored five in the next two innings, before Durham scored six times in the ninth off right-hander Logan Gillaspie.

Rodriguez, Norby and Prieto help comprise one of the most prospect-heavy rosters in the Minors, alongside Top 100 prospects Heston Kjerstad and Joseph Ortiz. And that’s without including Orioles No. 2 prospect Colton Cowser, who was scratched early from Tuesday’s lineup and, according to multiple reports, he is expected to join the Orioles in New York on Wednesday to make his MLB debut, though the club has not commented on a move.

The Tides’ roster also included team No. 3 prospect Jordan Westburg until last week. Westburg made his MLB debut June 26.

Then there is Rodriguez, who earned his first big league promotion in early April after one start for Norfolk, then struggled to pitch deep into games during a seven-week stint in the Majors. But the 23-year-old has looked every bit his old, dominant self since returning to the Tides, completing at least six innings in five of his six starts and posting double-digit strikeout totals in half of them.

All of which is a great development for an Orioles team that is clearly not afraid to dip into its well-regarded prospect ranks and looks like it’ll be a buyer at the Trade Deadline for the first time in a long time. They will almost certainly be looking for pitching help to augment their young rotation, and seem to have a dynamic in-house addition waiting in Rodriguez, the organization’s former top prospect and briefly the top prospect in baseball last summer.

If he pitches like he’s pitched lately back in Triple-A, that would constitute quite a midseason pickup for the O’s.