O's game blog: Looking for a bounce-back win as the Seattle series continues

The Orioles are, no doubt, very eager to turn the page today to a new game and the second game of their weekend series with the Seattle Mariners. Last night’s 13-1 loss was their biggest margin of defeat of 2023, topping the 12-2 loss at home to Texas on May 26.

The O’s offense has produced just three runs on seven hits the past two games after scoring 14 runs on 24 hits in the two games that preceded this most recent pair.

The Orioles allowed a season-high 13 runs and tied a season high in giving up 17 hits (it's happened three times, the last on May 31 against Cleveland). This marked the most runs surrendered since Sept. 10, 2022 versus Boston, when they allowed 17. The 12-run losing margin is their largest since that Sept. 10 game, which they lost 17-4. The Orioles are now 17-8 in series openers.

Baltimore is 45-29 for the year and trails first-place Tampa Bay by 5 1/2 games while leading third-place New York by five games in the American League East. The Orioles hold the first AL wild card spot today and lead that by five games over both Houston and New York.

Since leading Tampa Bay 6-0 at the end of the fourth inning on Tuesday, the Orioles have been outscored 26-5 by their opponents. They’ve allowed 26 runs the past three games.

Seattle (37-37) got back to the .500 mark with Friday’s win. The Mariners won 90 games last year and reached the AL playoffs.

The Mariners' 12-run winning margin is their largest since they beat Houston 14-1 on June 5, 2019. They scored a season-high 13 runs, their most since April 18, 2019 at Kansas City. Seattle recorded a season-high 17 hits, their most since Sept. 15, 2019 against the White Sox (17) and their most in a road game since May 10, 2018 at Toronto (17).

Seattle starting pitcher Logan Gilbert improved to 5-4 with a 4.07 ERA. He allowed one run (on an Anthony Santander solo homer) and two hits over seven innings, on 94 pitches. He produced another quality start for the Mariners, who have a rotation ERA of 3.99 to rank fifth-best in the league.

AL leaders in team quality starts:

38 – Seattle
37 – Houston
36 – Minnesota, Texas, Toronto

The O's starters have 24 quality starts to rank 10th in the AL.

The O’s rotation saw a streak of 12 straight games with the starting pitcher allowing three earned runs or fewer end on Friday. Kyle Gibson allowed five runs, all earned, over three innings. O’s starters had done that 21 of the previous 22 games before the series opener.

The O's have won 36 of their last 58 games, 39 of 62 and 41 of 65. The 45-29 (.608) overall record is the third-best in the AL and fourth-best in the major leagues. This marks the eighth time since 1954 that the O's have won 45 of their first 74 games, and the first since 1997 (50-24).

Ryan O'Hearn has hit .371/.397/.714 (26-for-70) with six doubles, six homers, 15 runs scored, 14 RBIs and three walks in his last 21 games since May 16. Among players with at least 70 plate appearances during that time, he ranks second in batting average and OPS (1.112) and third in slugging.

Right-hander Dean Kremer (8-3, 4.56 ERA) gets today's start for the Orioles. On the year he has thrown 81 innings, allowing 93 hits with 21 walks, recording 72 strikeouts, 1.407 WHIP, a 2.3 walk rate and a strikeout rate of 8.0.

Over his past nine starts, Kremer has allowed three or fewer earned runs eight times. In that span he is 6-2 with a 3.33 ERA and the Orioles are 7-2.

Righty Bryce Miller (5-3, 3.68 ERA) will make his 10th start for Seattle, which is 6-3 in his first nine. He has already delivered seven quality with a 1.38 ERA his past two starts. That followed two starts in which he gave up a combined 15 runs over seven innings versus the Yankees and Rangers.