Orioles surrender five runs in seventh inning and lose 7-3 (updated)

SEATTLE – The Orioles couldn’t let a sleeping offense lie.

Bryan Baker loaded the bases in the seventh inning with the score tied, Keegan Akin entered with two outs and the Mariners’ J.P. Crawford doubled to right-center field to plate three runs. Mitch Garver followed with a homer.

A crowd that kept verbalizing its annoyance with Seattle’s silent bats finally had reason to erupt.

Corbin Burnes’ latest quality start and Gunnar Henderson’s flirtation with the cycle were sidenotes to the Orioles’ failure to complete the sweep, losing a lead and ultimately the game, 7-3, before an announced crowd of 32,347 at T-Mobile Park

The Yankees lost again today to keep the Orioles (55-32) two games ahead in the division.

Julio Rodríguez led off the seventh with a double after jamming his thumb earlier in the game while making a stumbling catch in center. Ty France and Mitch Haniger walked, and Crawford won a left-on-left matchup with Akin after getting ahead 3-0 in the count.

Garver was down 0-2, worked the count even and deposited a fastball into the center field seats.

Jordan Westburg homered off Trent Thornton with two outs in the eighth, but the margin was too big.  

“A really poorly pitched seventh there," said manager Brandon Hyde. "Almost got out of it. But Akin falls behind 3-0 and has to come in. Just got to do a better job in that kind of situation.”

Baker had two strikeouts but the walks were critical.

"First and second, they tried to bunt and he punched the guy," Hyde said. "Walk hurt after that, and then the punch. Bring the lefty in and fell behind 3-0 and center-cut a fastball. Didn’t execute well that inning.”

Danny Coulombe's absence following surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow is felt more and more.

"Tip your cap to Julio Rodríguez, leading off with a double," said catcher James McCann. "Walks hurt us a little bit. He came up with a big strikeout to then hand the ball off to Akin. And then falling behind Crawford, he took advantage of a 3-1 heater and cleared the bases.

"In that at-bat, it’s tough. There’s not an open base. You’ve got to go right at the guy and try to hope your defense can work and the ball finds a glove. Unfortunately, it found a gap, and it was a big one."

Henderson struck out nine times in his last 12 at-bats before today, with four coming Sunday night in front of an ESPN audience. The custom cleats weren’t to blame. Baseball is hard.

Henderson spoils us by making it look so easy.

Mariners starter Bryce Miller threw a slider to Henderson in the third inning, and the All-Star shortstop lined it into the left-field seats. Henderson was a triple short of the cycle by the fifth. He was back to being a complete player.

"I didn’t really know where that (slump) came from, but yeah, that’s baseball, it’s going to happen," he said. "Just try to limit it as much as I could. I feel like I was putting in some good work the past couple days just trying to figure it out and made some steps in the right direction today."

With a chance to make baseball history, Henderson faced Ryne Stanek in the seventh and lined out to short at 99.9 mph. He ended the game by grounding out on a shot up the middle that deflected off reliever Andrés Muñoz.

“Rockets all over the field," Hyde said. "Home run that’s like a right-handed hitter pull-side homer. It’s a joke what he can do. A lineout to short and then a ball off the pitcher’s foot or wherever it hit him in the ninth. Hit the ball hard all day.

"He just stays on the ball. He’s really learned to stay on the ball so well. He’s hit one out over the wall we have in left at home. That home run today was like a right-handed hitter pulling a homer. He’s got all the tools.”

Henderson led off the top of the first inning with a double but was thrown out going to third. Heston Kjerstad followed with a single up the middle, but second baseman Ryan Bliss probably would have been shaded more toward the bag with Henderson on it.

McCann began the third with a single and Henderson belted his 27^th home run. He also has 60 RBIs.

"Honestly, just trying to get something out over the plate a little bit," he said. "He’s got a bunch of stuff that moves every way, so just trying to pick my spots, and I feel like I chose right right there and got a good pitch up."

McCann singled led off the fifth with another single and Henderson beat out a chopper to the right side.

He can inflict pain with his power and his speed.

The latest lineup had McCann behind the plate and Adley Rutschman and Ryan Mountcastle on the bench. Kjerstad was elevated to second, with Hyde’s tactic of a combination of rest following a night game and getting an extra left-handed bat in the order against Miller.

The day began with Miller owning a 1.99 ERA and 0.865 WHIP in nine home starts this season and a 6.28 ERA and 1.279 WHIP in eight road games. The Orioles were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position through the fifth and stranded five.

It came back to bite them.

Miller left two on base in the fifth and the Mariners immediately got him a run in the bottom half on Rodríguez’s 428-foot homer on a two-strike cutter. Burnes, in his first start since leaving the team for the birth of his twin daughters, had retired 12 in a row following Crawford’s leadoff single in the first. Anthony Santander made another diving catch in the first to rob Cal Raleigh.

France and Josh Rojas singled after Rodríguez’s home run, the latter on a ground ball toward the middle that Jorge Mateo failed to backhand, and Haniger walked to load the bases. The Orioles turned a 6-4-3 double play on Bliss as the tying run scored.

Burnes pounded his fist into his glove. He gladly took the two outs. And then he retired the side in order in the sixth and struck out two.

The outing produced Burnes’ 14th quality start. He allowed two runs and four hits in six innings, with one walk and six strikeouts. He was done after 94 pitches.

“He threw the ball great once again," Hyde said. "Just got in a little trouble there that one inning. We helped with that. We kicked a double play ball kind of earlier in that inning. So really a solo homer and that was pretty much it. Maybe that was the only bad pitch of the game. After an extended layoff and his in-between start routine interrupted, he gave us a great chance to win.”

"He threw the ball well at the end of the day, right?" said McCann, who drew a two-out walk in the ninth after Muñoz knocked him down twice. "Six innings, two runs, gave us a chance to win. I think it wasn’t as crisp at times as he would’ve liked, but at the end of the day he threw the ball well."

Burnes described his start as “pretty good."

"We made some big pitches when we needed to," he said. "One mistake there to Julio, just a poor cutter, but after that, to get out of it with only one run given up, big double play there, was big. Threw more pitches than I wanted to but for the most part was pretty pleased with it. Didn’t spin the ball the way I wanted to, but that can maybe be attributed to the layoff.”

Burnes went easy on the bullpen, crediting it for solid work this season.

“They’ve thrown the ball great all year," he said. "Tonight, we had a chance to get out of that. We were close. We were really one hitter away from getting out of it. Credit to their guy for putting a good swing on the bat. But these guys have been great all year. They’ve saved our butt a lot of times in the rotation and have locked down a lot of tight games at the end. They’ve done great, we continue to believe in them and with the off-day coming up and the All-Star break, those guys get a good break and be ready to go for the second half.

“Coming in with guys on base, just in general, when guys are on base, teams become more aggressive. Guys are trying to drive in runs. So, it’s tough coming in knowing your first or second pitch guys are going to swing at, and you've got to be locked in from pitch one. Sometimes you don’t get two or three pitches as a starter does to kind of feel out the mechanics. You’ve got to be ready to go from the moment you get in there. It’s a tough job. It’s a job that I’m glad I don’t have to do anymore.

"When I did it, it was fun but it was tough, and a lot of the time the game hinges on how you’re going to do out there. For the most part, they’ve done phenomenal out there. hiccups every now and then but what do you expect? Everyone’s human and everyone has those bad days. They’ve done great and they’ll continue to do great.”

Miller was removed with two outs in the sixth after Cedric Mullins’ double. Austin Voth struck out Mateo on a curveball that had the infielder bailing as if close to being hit.

The Orioles were crushed in the seventh.

* MASN and Orioles Radio Network broadcaster Geoff Arnold reported that Triple-A Norfolk manager Buck Britton will pitch to Henderson in the Home Run Derby.

"It’s going to be pretty special," Henderson said. "I spent a lot of time with Buck at the minor league level, and then at spring training. He was pumped up for it and I’m looking forward to doing it with him. I’ve hit his BP well. He throws really good BP and it’s a pretty easy motion, so I feel like that’s something you need, especially in that kind of setting.

"I won’t lie to you, there will probably be a couple swings where I’ll go the other way. But I’d guess a majority to the gap and pull side."

* Triple-A Norfolk’s Billy Cook went on the injured list with a right hamstring strain. MLB Pipeline ranks Cook as the 29^th prospect in the organization.

Single-A Delmarva’s Thomas Sosa went on the injured list with a left shoulder strain.