SEATTLE – The Orioles kept jabbing at Mariners starter George Kirby tonight, with all eight of their hits against him singles. Ramón Urías clipped the right side of Kirby’s jaw with a 102.7 mph line drive that resulted in the final out of the fifth inning – the ball rolling to first baseman Rowdy Tellez - and left a thin stream of blood running past his mouth.
Kirby was coming out anyway after 95 pitches, but it still resembled a knockout blow.
Tomoyuki Sugano and Colton Cowser wouldn’t let the Mariners get up. Sugano held them to one run in seven innings and Cowser marked his return with an opposite-field homer off former teammate Eduardo Bazardo in a 5-1 victory over the Mariners at T-Mobile Park.
Heston Kjerstad drove in Coby Mayo with a double in the ninth, pinch-runner Jordyn Adams scored on Jackson Holliday’s single, and the Orioles improved to 23-36 with their first four-game winning streak since June 26-29, 2024. They’ve won seven of their last nine games and are 8-8 under interim manager Tony Mansolino.
Sugano delivered the rotation’s fourth quality start in a row and lowered his ERA to 3.04. He allowed five hits, walked one batter and struck out five.
Tellez tied the game in the bottom of the second inning with a 404-foot shot that struck a café window on the second deck in right field. The previous batter, Randy Arozarena, grounded out to shortstop Gunnar Henderson at 107 mph, and Tellez followed at 108.6. But Sugano didn’t give up another run, getting a strikeout and double play in the sixth after back-to-back singles.
Sugano retired the side in order and struck out two in the seventh. He was removed after 90 pitches.
Bryan Baker put runners on the corners with one out in the eighth and stranded them. He struck out Julio Rodríguez on a 97.4 mph fastball for the last out, making another bid for the role of primary right-handed setup man, and shaved his ERA to 2.67.
Cowser was reinstated from the 60-day injured list and hit his first home run since March 29 in Toronto, a day before fracturing his left thumb diving into first base. He flied out and grounded out twice in his other at-bats.
The small ball approach from Sunday carried over to Seattle. The Orioles loaded the bases with one out on singles by Adley Rutschman, Henderson and Ryan O’Hearn, and Urías’ sacrifice fly produced the game’s first run.
Henderson reached on a bouncer up the middle that probably should have been ruled an error on shortstop J.P. Crawford. O’Hearn extended his on-base streak to 19 games, and he’s reached in 32 of 33.
Kirby, making only his third start after beginning the season on the injured list, threw 30 pitches in the inning.
Kjerstad and Dylan Carlson had one-out singles in the second, but Kirby struck out Holliday and Rutschman. The Orioles broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth on consecutive singles again from Rutschman, Henderson and O’Hearn – this time with two outs.
Closer Félix Bautista warmed in the top of the ninth as the Orioles stretched their lead past a save situation. Rutschman singled for a third time to complete a 12-pitch at-bat. Bautista came in anyway and retired the side in order.
The pitching is better, the at-bats more competitive. If there’s momentum in baseball, the Orioles have found it.
Baseball-Reference.com listed their playoff chances at .1 percent today and FanGraphs calculated them at 1.8. There’s a long way to go but also a lot of season left. The Orioles already changed the vibe. Why not the odds, too?