The Orioles’ rotation has turned a corner. A focus on ‘attacking’ is the biggest reason.

BOSTON — In the cramped visiting clubhouse at Fenway Park there isn’t much space for players to spread out, but the Orioles’ starting rotation wouldn’t have done so anyway. In their corner of the clubhouse, sitting around their lockers and on a couch this week, the group chattered with pitching coach Drew French.

“The starting pitching group is kind of like their own team,” manager Craig Albernaz said later, and that is often the case. In their corner, they talk life. They also talk pitching — and it’s lost on no one in that group just how well they have operated for the last two weeks.

“I said probably three or four weeks ago that I felt like we were close. It’s not like we were light-years away, getting our teeth kicked in every day.”

Orioles starter Shane Baz

Across the board, the Orioles have played better baseball. After clinching the series against the Boston Red Sox, Baltimore has won nine of its last 13 games. The starting staff has much to do with that upturn.

After left-hander Trevor Rogers produced a strong showing in the series finale, the Orioles’ starting pitchers have a 2.74 ERA during this 13-game stretch — 75 2/3 innings with 23 earned runs against them.

That is more like it, especially when compared to what the rotation had done previously. From opening day through May 21, Baltimore’s starters managed a 5.11 ERA. That was the worst mark in the American League. They were walking the third-most batters per nine innings in the majors and had allowed the third-most hits overall.

That was not a tenable situation. They knew it.

“The biggest thing was maybe a little bit of a mentality change. Attacking guys. Not being scared of contact,” right-hander Kyle Bradish said. “The biggest thing for me was just not worrying about what happens after I throw the pitch. Like, cliché, but you can’t control what happens after you throw the ball. Just focusing on that pitch to pitch has really helped me be locked in.”

That mentality change, Bradish said, is a result of those clubhouse conversations between starters and the pitching coach. Right-hander Brandon Young, who has been an unexpectedly stout member of this rotation, said right-hander Chris Bassitt is often the center of those spurring talks.

“I know Bassitt, a few times, we’re in the clubhouse and he’s mentioned, ‘We just need to go after guys. We’re walking too many guys,’” Young said. “He knows what it takes to have a good rotation. It’s good to hear him say some stuff and to light a fire under our ass sometimes.”

The prognosis of Bassitt is unclear. He left his outing Wednesday after three innings because of lower back tightness, and he flew to Baltimore on Thursday for a visit with the team’s doctors. Should he miss time, right-hander Trey Gibson started Wednesday in Triple-A and would be on schedule to fill in.

Three other starters are on the injured list: right-handers Zach Eflin and Dean Kremer and left-hander Cade Povich. But the group assembled currently is producing better results, and that is a major reason Baltimore has gained ground in the wild-card chase.

Across the board, Orioles starting pitchers say there is an increased focus on attacking in the strike zone early.

“I think just trusting our stuff over the plate 0-0. I think that kind of sets you up in such a good spot, and there are so many different outcomes, but almost all of them are really good for you,” right-hander Shane Baz said. “I said probably three or four weeks ago that I felt like we were close. It’s not like we were light-years away, getting our teeth kicked in every day. I think it was true. I think it was just a few at-bats a game that were kind of biting us in the ass.”

A few at-bats or not, the results weren’t great early in the season. The walks caused issues. Through May 21, Baltimore’s starters averaged 3.99 walks per nine innings.

“There’s no reason we should not be attacking guys,” Bradish said. “Everyone in this rotation has really good stuff. Plenty of stuff to get guys out. There’s no way we should be walking four or five guys a game or being 2-0 constantly.”

Beyond the walks, pitchers fell behind in counts too frequently, which meant opponents were likely to see hittable pitches in the zone. Orioles starters found themselves in 1-0 counts more than 22 other teams through May 21. Since then, they are 14th.

Albernaz said this turnaround boils down to “throwing strikes. Throwing the ball over the plate.”

“I know it sounds so elementary, but it’s a real thing,” the manager said. “When you’re attacking the strike zone, first-pitch strikes, winning the 1-1 counts, not letting the first batter of an inning walk, or make him earn his way on — all those little things that you’ve preached since Little League still play here at the big leagues. Our guys really take onus of that, and that’s what we’re seeing now from our starters.”

There is, undoubtedly, a momentum aspect to this. After a dismal series against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Orioles returned home to take two of three from the Detroit Tigers. Young started the first game of a doubleheader and pitched 6 2/3 innings with two unearned runs against him.

Then Bradish pitched a quality start the next day: six innings, one run. Baz followed with one run in seven innings. Gibson posted 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball the next day. And the day after that Bassitt navigated six innings and allowed one run — so on and so forth.

“Seeing your fellow rotation mate succeed, it gives you that confidence, especially if you’re pitching in the same series, of like, ‘Oh, yeah, Shane just went out and dominated these guys. I can do the same thing,’” Bradish said. “Does it happen all the time? No. But I think, when you have the majority of your guys throwing well, I think it just lifts up the whole team.”

Suddenly, the snowball effect was real.

“It’s just been trending upward as guys continue to throw more games,” catcher Adley Rutschman said. “As we’ve gone along, just learning stuff about what makes each guy successful and diving into their identity on the mound. Pouring into that. And it seems like guys have gotten a lot more confident in each one of their processes and have been able to lean into that.”

The strength of the Orioles, if this team is to turn around its season, is the offense. They have the potential to be dangerous and score in multiple ways, particularly with the rise in a small-ball approach recently. But Baltimore needs this pitching staff to be average, at least — far better than it performed for a month and a half.

The last two weeks have shown a much different side of the rotation. And, as the Orioles chase a return to the postseason after a one-year hiatus — and to win there for first the first time in more than a decade — this side of the rotation is what would allow it to happen.

“As a starter, you just want to go deep into the game and give the team a chance,” Baz said, “and we’ve been doing a lot better job.”