How did Dylan Axelrod shut down the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday night?

Here were three keys to his win from Stats & Information’s pitch-performance data:

1: Axelrod used an almost even mix of fastballs (50) and sliders (53), but it was the breaking ball that did the damage.

The 53 sliders is the third most thrown by a starter this season and the Orioles were 1-for-11 with four strikeouts in at-bats ending with the pitch.

The slider was particularly nasty against right-handed hitters. Of the 31 Axelrod threw, 27 of them ended up on the outer-third of the plate, or off the plate.

2: Axelrod got misses on 33 percent of his swings, his third-highest miss rate in 15 career appearances. That put him in position to get outs with two strikes and he did. A dozen of his outs on Wednesday came with two strikes.

3: All three hits Axelrod allowed were with the bases empty. The Orioles were 0 for 7 with men on base (0 for 3 with runners in scoring position), flying out six times. Axelrod got 13 flyouts in this game. Since the All-Star Break, 20 batters have hit a fly ball against Axelrod. Only one has gotten a hit.