It was another night with little offense for the Orioles

By Steve Melewski

Orioles

June 20, 2019, 10:41pm

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SEATTLE - Orioles right-hander Dylan Bundy looked like he was on his game. He gave up one run and three hits through five and had a 2-1 lead on Seattle. But the Orioles couldn't add to that lead and they finally fell behind in the sixth inning last night.

It was another night without much offense and without a quality start for the ninth time in 10 games as Seattle beat the Orioles 5-2 to open a four-game series. The losing streak reached nine in the opener of a four-game series at T-Mobile Park.

Domingo Santana homered off Bundy in the sixth to tie it 2-2 and three singles followed as the Mariners took the lead for good and Bundy got roughed up the third time through the order.

It's an obvious question and O's manager Brandon Hyde answered it without any spin. Yes the lack of offense has put too much pressure on the pitching staff.

"Yeah. Yes. We don't add on leads. And we don't add on runs. It seems like once we get down these last couple of weeks we have a hard time getting back in it. We're having a tough time against major league bullpens that are going right through us as of late. We did a nice job in the first and didn't do anything after that," said Hyde.

Held to just four singles last night, the Orioles have scored nine runs with 17 hits in four games of the road trip. They have one extra-base hit in the four games and that was Jonathan Villar's homer Tuesday night. Over the last 21 games, they've scored three runs or less 15 times.

Are the players getting exposed or are they tired?

"I don't think guys are getting tired," said Hyde. "This is the big leagues and it's middle of June. We haven't been playing as much in hot weather. I think it's, we're just not putting things together right now."

The nine-game losing streak, adding on to a season-high, is the third-longest in MLB this year. Detroit and Kansas City both have 10-game streaks.

Bundy's streak of eight consecutive games allowing three earned runs or less was snappped. He falls to 3-9 with a 4.59 ERA allowing four runs and seven hits over 5 1/3 innings.

"I thought Dylan threw the ball really well," said Hyde. "You know he ran into trouble there in the sixth. What we had in the bullpen is what you saw and so I was hoping he could get through that inning somehow. He was a ground ball away from getting out of it with a double play and the ball goes through. Bring in Evan (Phillips) in a 3-2 game. But we still had a lot of opportunities, lot of game left to try and help them out and score some runs and didn't do it."

Said Bundy: "Good for five innings. Kind of the same thing as the last start, gave up multiple hits in a row in the sixth inning. I was just leaving pitches over the middle of the plate more in the sixth inning than the first five. Not tired at all. I think I just yanked a fastball to Santana there and a couple pitches didn't go my way later in that inning."

Bundy certainly was not going to throw his offense under the bus or say it impacted his pitching in any way.

"Not at all. I can't control that. All I can control is what I can do on the mound. I'm not going to worry about that and, you know, we'll pick it up pretty soon," he said.

The Mariners had gone 33 games without winning two in a row, but now they have after Thursday's victory. That was the second longest streak in the majors this year. The team with the longest run in the majors without two wins in a row is the Orioles. Their streak reached 40 games last night.

The Orioles have been outscored 80-28 during their losing streak.

After last night's game both Phillips and lefty Paul Fry were optioned to Triple-A Norfolk and the Orioles will replace them on the roster later today.

Delmarva's huge comeback: The Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds began the second half of their schedule last night coming from nine runs down to win at Greensboro, 12-11 in 10 innings. The Shorebirds trailed 11-2 and then scored four runs in the seventh and eighth and one each in the ninth and 10th.

Two days after earning South Atlantic League All-Star Game MVP honors, Doran Turchin led the way at the plate going 3-for-6 with three runs scored and sparking both four-run innings. Edison Lantigua, in his first game with the team, went 1-for-4 with three RBIs while catcher Cody Roberts went 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs in his first game back since an Opening Day hand injury.

Cadyn Grenier finished 1-for-4 with the game-tying run and his sixth career homer, five of which have come at Greensboro's expense, including four at First National Bank Field. Seamus Curran went 2-for-5 with two runs and an RBIs, while Nick Horvath and Ryne Ogren each drove in two runs from the eight-and nine-holes.

Double-A Bowie beat Hartford 5-1 as lefty Zac Lowther gave up one run over five innings. He is now 7-4 with a 1.95 ERA. Righty Hunter Harvey threw three scoreless in relief.

In Triple-A Norfolk's loss at Scranton, right-hander David Hess took the loss, allowing five runs over two innings.