Orioles follow up 10-0 win in Boston with 10-0 home loss to Mariners; position player Chris Owings pitches
The Orioles entered Tuesday coming off a 10-0 shutout win over the Boston Red Sox but ended it with a position player pitching the ninth inning as they waved the white flag in a 10-0 home loss to the Seattle Mariners.
In a game that mirrored Monday night’s contest in Boston — only with Baltimore on the losing end this time — the Orioles trailed immediately, dug themselves in a deep hole by the third inning and eventually lost in front of an announced crowd of 8,074 on a 92-degree evening at Camden Yards.
Right-hander Bryan Baker opened the game on the mound for the Orioles, just as he did earlier this month in St. Louis, when he pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings. This time, however, he wasn’t as effective.
His first pitch over the plate was a foul ball that was nearly a home run, and he finished his night allowing three earned runs in 1 1/3 innings. Zac Lowther, called up Monday from Norfolk after posting an 8.26 ERA at Triple-A, then made his season debut with the Orioles (21-30), who are without injured starting pitcher Spenser Watkins and just finished a four-day, five-game series in Boston that relied heavily on the bullpen.
But Lowther, like Baker, was hit hard, allowing four runs in the third inning to put the Orioles behind 8-0. He settled down after that, posting three straight scoreless innings before the Mariners added a run in the seventh on a bloop single by No. 8 hitter Taylor Trammell, who finished 3-for-4 with four RBIs.
Orioles manager Brandon Hyde praised Lowther for, at the very least, saving the bullpen from extensive use.
“In the third, I didn’t know what we were going to do because if [Lowther] wasn’t gonna last very long, then I was gonna throw a bunch of guys that I didn’t wanna throw in a game like that,” Hyde said. “So for him to go and get a scoreless fourth, fifth and sixth inning, that was big.”
Lowther threw 100 pitches — the most the 26-year old has thrown in his brief major league career — and allowed five earned runs in 5 1/3 innings.
“I knew coming in that we were a little short-staffed, so trying to chew up those innings and be productive with it,” Lowther said. “I know the first two innings was a little rough for me, but got through three more and was able to kind of save the bullpen a little bit.”
Marcos Diplán then pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings before the Orioles gave the ball to a position player for the first time this year. Utility fielder Chris Owings, whose first pitch was clocked at 49 mph, threw 10 pitches, allowing two hits and one run.
Had the Orioles won, they would’ve finished May with a 15-15 record, which would have marked their first .500 or better month since July 2019. With the loss, however, they fell to 14-16 on the month.
Bad breaks for Rutschman
Rookie catcher Adley Rutschman, coming off a two-hit game in Boston, went hitless against Seattle starter and fellow 2019 first-round draft pick George Kirby, who pitched six scoreless innings and struck out eight to earn his first major league victory.
“I thought that Kirby was really good,” Hyde said.
Rutschman nearly hit his first major league home run in the sixth inning off Kirby when he pulled a pitch deep towards right field, but it carried foul. He finished the night 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, including on a controversial check swing call with runners on first and second in the first inning that the Orioles’ dugout disagreed with.
“We got a bad break there on the check swing that could’ve changed at least the first part of the game,” Hyde said.
Though Rutschman’s batting average has now dipped to .179 through 10 career games, Hyde praised him before the game for his defense.
“What he’s done behind the plate, he’s beyond his years already,” Hyde said.
MARINERS@ORIOLES
Wednesday, 7:05 p.m.
TV: MASN2
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
