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SEATTLE – The starts keep coming to Orioles outfielder Heston Kjerstad, with injuries presenting more opportunities than otherwise would be available to a struggling hitter.
Kjerstad appeared in his 51st game last night, making his 18th start in right. He’s made 25 in left and served as designated hitter in one game.
Opportunities aren’t the issue here. It’s the results, which lowered his average to .185 with a .231 on-base percentage and .308 slugging percentage heading into last night.
Kjerstad tripled on Sunday, the first of his career, but was picked off third base. He broke an 0-for-20 streak and was 3-for-38 in his past 10 games.
Batting eighth last night against Mariners right-hander George Kirby, Kjerstad lined a 96.5 mph fastball up the middle for a one-out single in the second inning and lined out to left field to end the fourth. He lined to center on Sunday, and to third and left field on Saturday.
Against a Seattle Mariners team that ranks 13th in the American League and 27th in the majors scoring 3.78 runs per game, the Orioles have allowed just one run in two games.
They have 2-0 and 4-1 victories at T-Mobile Park and can complete a three-game sweep today against the AL West leaders.
The Orioles look for their sixth series sweep of the year of three games or more. They swept four at Chicago versus the White Sox from May 23-26. They won four straight in Florida against the Rays from June 7-10. They have three-game sweeps over Boston, Minnesota, and Cincinnati.
They look for the sweep against a Mariners team (47-41) that has scored just five runs during a four-game losing streak. Seattle has lost seven of nine and 10 of its past 13 games. The M’s first-place lead is down to two games over the Houston Astros.
In these two games, Baltimore pitchers have allowed just seven hits in 18 innings with six walks and 24 strikeouts against the team that has struck out more than any in the majors. Seattle batters have fanned 901 times.
SEATTLE – The math leaves two possible outcomes for Orioles ace Corbin Burnes.
If Burnes starts every fifth day heading into the break, beginning this afternoon against the Mariners, his turn falls on July 14 against the Yankees at Camden Yards. An important 11:35 a.m. game between the top two teams in the division to finish the first half.
If Burnes is on the mound every fifth game, with extra rest coming from Monday’s open date on the schedule, he’d be available to pitch in the All-Star Game on July 16.
He’d be available to start for the first time.
Burnes hasn’t paused to think about it. He’s preoccupied with wife Brooke giving birth to twin girls Charlotte and Harper early Friday morning in Arizona. Burnes is a tired dad working on six days’ rest this afternoon following last Thursday’s outing at Camden Yards.
SEATTLE – As the city of Seattle should know, defense wins championships.
Wait, sorry, wrong sport. Defense sometimes wins baseball games, as it nearly did tonight for the Baltimore Orioles. The offense didn’t hold up its end of the bargain in a 2-0 loss, in which the Birds mustered just one total hit.
"We're playing really well defensively," said manager Brandon Hyde. "That's why we're staying in games, pitching and defense is still extremely important, and we've been doing that."
"I wouldn't be able to do it without the help of the defense," added Dean Kremer. "They're spectacular."
Entering tonight’s game, Kremer had posted a 1.71 ERA through his first four starts of the season. In the same sample size, Robbie Ray boasted a 1.80 ERA in his previous four starts. They both pitched as their resumés would suggest on Tuesday night.
As the Orioles continue to play winning baseball and are 21-16 since May 19, they are compiling a number of good stats on both the pitching and hitting sides. Let’s take a look at several of them as they get set tonight to play the second game of a three-game series at Seattle.
A 21-16 record produces a win percentage of .568 over a 37-game span, which is nearly a quarter of the season. A team that could play at that percentage for 162 games would finish 92-70.
The Orioles' 9-2 win last night at Seattle gives them a 35-40 record and they have won five of six, six of eight and eight of 11 games. The Orioles are now 11-5 the last 16 games and 13-8 over their past 21. While they have an overall losing record in road games at 17-23, they are 11-7 in their past 18 games away from Oriole Park and they are 4-1 to start this 10-game road trip.
The Baltimore pitching staff has put together a stunning run with a team ERA of 1.99 over the last 11 games, and they have allowed two runs or less in eight of those games. O’s pitchers have allowed nine combined runs the last six games, 13 in eight and 22 runs over the last 11 games.
In addition to that, the O’s starting pitchers have an ERA of 1.82 over the last eight games. And the Baltimore bullpen has allowed zero or one earned run for 13 consecutive games with an ERA of 1.34 in those 13 games and 0.93 over the past six games.
The Orioles received their biggest hit today a few hours before the game started, learning that baseball’s top pitching prospect, Grayson Rodriguez, might miss a significant portion of the season with a strained lat muscle.
A delayed debut stung worse than a fastball to the ribs, but the Orioles had the major league side of business to occupy them. Players on the 26-man roster trying to win a home series against the Mariners. Manager Brandon Hyde tasked with guiding them through it.
Process the news and move on from it.
The Orioles led twice through the midpoint of the game and rallied for three runs in the sixth to create another tie, their ability to bounce back from adversity not limited to past losses, but the Mariners scored against Jorge López in the 10th and won 7-6 at Camden Yards.
López retired the first five batters he faced, but the automatic runner came home in the 10th on Abraham Toro’s one-out triple to center field, the ball deflecting off Cedric Mullins’ glove near the fence. López had two runners in scoring position with two outs and stranded them, and his ERA tumbled to 1.05 after he worked 2 1/3 innings.
Sure the Orioles mashed four homers last night in a 9-2 win over Seattle and sure they even crushed a couple of balls over the left-field wall. That seems to make news around here these days.
But maybe the biggest development for the Orioles came on a single and double. Because they came off the bat of center fielder Cedric Mullins. He set a very high bar for himself going 30-30 last season and winning unanimously the Most Valuable Oriole award.
But Mullins was hitting just .169 with an OPS of .410 his previous 16 games, going 11-for-65, when game time on Wednesday rolled around. Then lefty Robbie Ray made Mullins look bad in the last of the first when he chased a slider down and struck out.
His average had dropped to .236 and his OPS to .662.
But when I interviewed Mullins about his offense before the game last night I found a player not stressing or pressing. One still confident and one feeling that a couple of very good swings he had put on balls that were caught on Tuesday night was going to be a good sign for him.
