Seattle hits, Orioles misery both rain down in Baltimore’s 13-1 loss to Mariners

Often, on rainy Friday nights, it’s nice to curl up and take a nap. That seemed to have been the Orioles strategy during the hour and 40-minute rain delay Friday, and when it came time to finally face the Mariners the Orioles were still rubbing the sleep out of their eyes. Neither Baltimore’s bats nor pitching ever really woke up against Seattle, as the suffered their worst loss of the season, 13-1.

The signs that this was not the Orioles night presented themselves early, particularly with the struggles of starter Kyle Gibson. The 11-year veteran usually does well in Camden Yards, and in the 1st inning he seemed plenty locked in. He got lead off hitter Jarred Kelenic to ground out harmlessly to second and then struck out reigning AL Rookie of the Year Julio Rodríguez on a nice sweeper away. Gibson did give up a bloop single off a sweeper to Mariners’ first baseman Ty France, but immediately responded by getting cleanup hitter Teoscar Hernández to ground out on a high chopper to second.

However, the innings just got worse and worse from Gibson as his (short) outing wore on. Seattle’s DH Cal Raleigh rocketed a ball to RF to lead off the 2nd and then came home after a Kolten Wong single and Tom Murphy sac fly to center field. Gibson did pick up two strikeouts in the inning, but time and time again he found himself ahead in counts and couldn’t put the batter away. Murphy’s RBI fly out came at the end of an eight-pitch that started out with Gibson getting ahead 0-2.

While the O’s starter was able to limit Seattle to one run in the 2nd, he was not so fortunate in the 3rd. France led off the inning with a walk and then moved to third on a Hernández single up the middle. After getting Raleigh to pop up to short, Mariners’ third baseman Eugenio Suárez singled to center to score France and double to Mariners lead, 2-0. That started a chain reaction in the Mariners offense, as Wong lifted a sac to LF the next at-bat to drive home Hernández. Murphy capped off the rally with an exclamation point by launching a two-run home run over the Great Wall of Baltimore to give the Mariners a 5-0 lead.

Brandon Hyde pulled Gibson after the third inning, in what was his shortest start of the season. In allowing seven hits and three walks, he tied his season high with 10 base runners allowed. It was also only the second time this year that Gibson allowed 5+ runs in one of his starts. All-in-all, a forgettable night for the pitching staff’s veteran leader.

While the most of the relief corp found a little more success than Gibson, it was too little too late for the O’s on Friday night. Logan Gillaspie relieved Gibson in the 4th and got the first two batters out fairly easily. However, he then gave up a solo HR to Hernández—giving the M’s a 6-0 lead.

If there was any bright spot from Friday, it was the work put in by Cionel Pérez. The lefty from Cuba had his best outing of the season, throwing two innings while striking out three. Pérez’ showed more slider command than he has for much of the season, and made some good hitters in Kelenic and Rodríguez look silly with the breaking ball. Keegan Akin couldn’t match his fellow lefty’s performance, however. Taking over in the top of the 8th, Akin allowed a lead off double and five consecutive two-out singles to allow the Mariners lead to ballon from 6-1 to 13-1 by the end of the inning—though the last two runs scored after Bryan Baker relieved Akin.

In stark contrast to the struggles we saw from Gibson was the seemingly effortless performance by Seattle starter Logan Gilbert. The third-year righty walked Gunnar Henderson to lead off the bottom of the 1st, and gave up his first hit to Austin Hays on a single in the 2nd. Gilbert then proceeded to set down 16 Orioles in a row—before giving up a solo HR to Anthony Santander in the 7th inning. As Kevin Brown pointed out in the broadcast, Gilbert is an alumnus of Stetson University in Florida. Stetson’s other two notable MLB products: multiple Cy Young award winners Jacob de Grom and Corey Kluber. Gilbert definitely did his fellow Hatters proud in how he pitched Friday against the O’s.

The good news is the Orioles still have games on Saturday and Sunday and every opportunity to win both and take the series. And yet, every time the Orioles get completely outplayed by their opposition, this sinking feeling starts to creep in and it feels like we’re all sliding back toward the rebuilding times. The other 73 games this season tell a much more optimistic story, but they don’t take the sting out of Friday’s loss. Let’s all try and move on, forget this game ever happened and prepare to get a win on Saturday.