SEATTLE — Off the bat, Cal Raleigh, Scott Servais and the remainder of the ticketed 36,173 at T-Cellular Park on Tuesday evening thought the demolished ball within the backside of the ninth inning was going to be the newest “Huge Dumper” Particular.
However sadly for the Mariners’ catcher, supervisor and followers, the 430-foot blast that left his bat at 112.8 mph hooked simply foul, smashing into home windows of the Hit It Right here Café — a close to carbon-copy of the monumental blast that despatched Seattle to the 2022 postseason. However as an alternative, Raleigh went again to the dish, the place he struck out on the very subsequent pitch.
Raleigh represented the tying run in a 2-0 loss to the Orioles, then after Jorge Polanco was hit by a pitch from Craig Kimbrel, Julio Rodríguez stepped to the plate because the successful run with two outs. However Rodríguez additionally punched out, bringing the Mariners’ whole to 11 on the evening, one other double-digit exhibiting in a season that’s been filled with them.
Desperately looking for a late rally that they might hopefully springboard from after an more and more irritating two-week stretch, the Mariners had been shut out for the fifth time and completed with a season-low two hits. Each batter besides Josh Rojas — who was pinch-hit for when Baltimore introduced in lefty reliever Cionel Pérez within the eighth — went a mixed 0-for-26.
“It is recognized,” Raleigh mentioned. “I really feel prefer it’s not an absence of making an attempt or something like that. It is simply irritating and form of lingering a bit bit. However it’s how the season goes. We have simply obtained to maintain going. We will not surrender now. You have to preserve digging by it and struggle your approach out of it.”
Creating visitors hasn’t been an issue. Cashing in, nonetheless, has been a calamity.
With simply seven baserunners, the Mariners didn’t have almost as many run-scoring alternatives as over the weekend, after they went 4-for-34 with runners in scoring place. And after they did, momentum-drowning moments manifested, spoiling a robust begin from George Kirby in what’s been a six-week turnaround.
“We gave him zero run assist,” Raleigh mentioned. “However he pitched very well.”
When the Mariners put their first runner in scoring place within the fourth, after Ty France and Rodríguez drew consecutive walks, Polanco hit into an inning-ending double play. Once they did so once more within the sixth — after Rojas singled and France walked once more — Luke Raley hit right into a fielder’s alternative that had France out at second, however solely after a prolonged Orioles problem.
Gunnar Henderson bobbled the relay throw from O’s starter Grayson Rodriguez on the comebacker, however the shortstop was in a position to barehand it in time, whereas on his again, to beat France by a half-step for the second out. Raleigh then punched out on a 97.4 mph fastball on the prime rail, leaving Rojas on third and Raley on second, after he stole his sixth base of the season.
Seattle’s blemishes got here on an evening when its lineup featured a vastly completely different look and on the heels of simply its third off-day at house with out journey.
The headliner was Julio Rodríguez, who dropped to the No. 7 spot within the order, his lowest in a begin since Could 7, 2022. It wasn’t a punishment, however slightly an effort to ease strain off the gifted heart fielder on the heels of a 5-for-45 stretch with zero extra-base hits over the previous two weeks.
Rodríguez has had his private hitting coach, Osvaldo Diaz, on the town through the homestand. However after their prolonged pregame work, Rodríguez went 0-for-4, capped by the ultimate out on a fastball from Kimbrel approach above the zone.
“We’d like all people to choose it up and contribute offensively,” Servais mentioned pregame. “It’s not only one man. However Julio is the primary man.”
Kirby surrendered each runs, and all of Baltimore’s manufacturing got here on the bottom through choppers by the holes. It was clearly irritating, given how masterfully he rebounded from a Could 19 outing in Baltimore, when he was ambushed for 5 runs.
Servais even opted to go away Kirby in throughout a key jam within the seventh after a prolonged mound go to, when all people — together with reliever Tayler Saucedo, who was strolling down the bullpen steps — thought his evening was performed. One batter later, and it was, after Cedric Mullins ripped Baltimore’s ultimate knock up the center, leaving Kirby on each knees on the grass in entrance of the mound.
His expression was in the direction of a bitter end to an in any other case sturdy begin. But the sport may not have reached that time had Seattle’s bats been in a position to again him.