O's game blog: The series and road trip opener at Seattle

SEATTLE – The Orioles begin a three-city, nine-game West Coast road trip tonight with the first of three games against the Seattle Mariners. The trip later takes them on to San Diego and Oakland before they return home on Aug. 22 versus Toronto.

The Orioles (71-44) began today leading the AL East by three games over Tampa Bay after they won Thursday while the Rays lost. The Orioles avoided being swept yet again with a 5-4 win over Houston.

It was the sixth time this year they lost the first two games of a three-game series but won the third game. They also did that versus Texas, at Milwaukee, at the Chicago Cubs, versus Minnesota and against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Oriole Park.

So the Orioles have now gone 76 consecutive series without being swept since May 13-15, 2022 when they went 0-3 at Detroit. This is the fifth-longest streak in MLB history. The next team to catch on that list would be the New York Yankees from 1922-24, who went 83 consecutive series without being swept.

The Orioles have now won five of seven, eight of 11, 12 of 18 and 22 of their past 31 games. They are 17-9 in the second half.

The Orioles went 3-for-3 with runners in scoring position on Thursday after going 2-for-18 the previous three games. They did not leave a runner on base for the first time since Aug. 24, 2015.

The Orioles now have a triple in four straight games as Jorge Mateo hit one Sunday against the Mets and then in order in the Houston series they got one from Ramón Urías, Adley Rutschman and yesterday Urías again. He tripled in back-to-back games that he played and is the first Oriole to do that since Jonathan Villar Aug. 5-6, 2019.

Seattle (62-52) is the current hottest team in baseball with a seven-game win streak and nine wins in their last 10 games. The Mariners are now 1.5 games out of the last AL wild-card spot and are in third and 5.5 games back in the AL West. Over longer stretches, Seattle has won 12 of 14 and 15 of 19. And Seattle’s 24-10 (.706) record since July 1 is first in MLB.

The Mariners have won six straight series and are 9-1-1 in their past 11 series. Seattle is 33-26 at home and 47-18 when scoring four runs or more.

O’s right-hander Kyle Gibson (11-6, 4.50 ERA) makes the start in the series opener. He has recorded four straight quality starts, pitching to an ERA of 3.24 in that span and has a QS in five of his last six games. In those six, he is 3-0 with a 3.86 ERA along with eight walks and 39 strikeouts over 37 1/3 innings.

Gibson is on a pace to throw 197 innings this year and his previous career most was 196 2/2 in 2018 with Minnesota.

Gibson has allowed five runs or more just four times this year but once was his one previous start versus Seattle. He had his shortest start this year, three innings, and gave up five runs on June 23 as the Orioles lost 13-1. Gibson is 4-5 with a 4.21 ERA in 14 career starts against the Mariners.

Righty Luis Castillo (7-7, 3.21 ERA) gets the start for Seattle. They are 11-12 in his previous 23 games. And he allowed seven runs and 10 hits over six innings on Friday at the Los Angeles Angels in his last game. But his ERA was 2.32 in the previous five games before that and he has 12 quality starts for the season.

Castillo ranks tied for seventh in the AL in ERA, is eighth in WHIP and 15^th in innings pitched. He has never faced the Orioles.