Grayson Rodriguez took a no-hit bid into the sixth inning against the Mariners, but the Orioles' bullpen couldn't hold a 2-0 lead.
Grayson Rodriguez was excellent. His relievers were anything but.
Rodriguez took a no-hit bid into the sixth inning against the Seattle Mariners and handed the ball to the Orioles’ bullpen in the seventh with a 2-0 lead. Baltimore’s best relievers surrendered the lead, though, as the Mariners scored two runs in the seventh off crafty lefty Danny Coulombe and two more in the eighth off sinkerballer Yennier Cano.
The Orioles’ offense couldn’t recreate the punch from Friday’s win when it scored nine runs or the comeback magic from Wednesday’s triumph, falling to the Mariners, 4-3, at Camden Yards.
“We just made a couple bad pitches there in big spots,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “They’ve been excellent this year. Couldn’t ask for anything more out of those guys. It was just one of those nights where we couldn’t quite close it down, but they’ve been great.”
Rodriguez returned from the injured list Saturday after missing the past few weeks with shoulder inflammation. He didn’t go on a minor league rehabilitation assignment, and his performance against Seattle (25-21) proved why.
After a nearly three-hour rain delay, the 24-year-old was on cruise control, recording 16 outs without allowing a hit before Julio Rodríguez’s infield single spoiled that pursuit. The right-hander finished his night with seven strikeouts, three walks and just the one hit in six scoreless innings to lower his ERA to 3.15.
“Being able to go six innings off the three weeks off, I think that was big for me,” Rodriguez said.
Baltimore’s bats briefly backed Rodriguez with Austin Hays’ sacrifice fly to score Jordan Westburg in the second and Ryan O’Hearn’s RBI single to bring home Jorge Mateo in the third. But ace Luis Castillo and the Mariners’ bullpen kept the Orioles at bay over the final six frames.
A two-run lead would normally be enough for Baltimore’s bullpen, as the club’s relief corps has been one of the sport’s best. Orioles pitchers entered Saturday with a 2.29 ERA in May, while the bullpen’s 3.16 average this season ranked fifth in the majors.
They didn’t pitch like it Saturday, though.
Coulombe, who entered with a remarkable 0.540 WHIP, allowed the first two batters to reach base in the seventh on a single and a double. Mitch Haniger’s RBI groundout cut the Orioles’ lead in half. Journeyman Albert Suárez replaced Coulombe with a runner on second and allowed a game-tying RBI double to Ty France on the 12th pitch of the at-bat.
Cano, an All-Star in 2023, repeated Coulombe’s seventh, allowing a single and a double to begin the eighth. Cal Raleigh’s double to left brought home Julio Rodríguez, the Mariners’ superstar center fielder. Like Suárez, left-hander Cionel Pérez relieved Cano and allowed his inherited runner to score, this one on an RBI double by Dylan Moore.
Gunnar Henderson cleared Oriole Park’s deep left field wall with a solo homer in the ninth off Mariners closer Andrés Muñoz, but Adley Rutschman couldn’t tap into his recent power source once again, striking out to end the game.
Baltimore (28-15) drops to two games back of the red-hot New York Yankees (32-15) for first in the American League East.
Shortly after Seize the Grey won the 149th Preakness Stakes, Westburg whizzed around the bases for a triple in the second inning — not nearly as fast as the horse, but quite fast for a human. The three-bagger was the Orioles’ third since Friday’s seventh inning when Mateo and Gunnar Henderson showed off their elite speed on back-to-back triples.
Westburg’s soft liner down the right field line off Castillo caromed away from Mariners right fielder Dominic Canzone, allowing the Orioles third baseman to stretch a double into a triple. According to Statcast tracking data, he sprinted from home to third in 11.57 seconds — slightly slower than Mateo’s 11.34 and Henderson’s 11.32.
Westburg scored on Hays’ sacrifice fly to give Baltimore an early advantage. It marked a third straight quality plate appearance for Hays after the left fielder doubled in consecutive pinch-hit opportunities following his return from the IL Monday. Hays was engrossed in the worst slump of his career before a calf injury landed him on the shelf, but he hit well during his minor league rehabilitation assignment and appears to be out of the quicksand.
Mateo doubled to lead off the third and scored on O’Hearn’s RBI single. Saturday marks the third straight game in which Mateo, who went 2-for-3, has smacked an extra-base hit — the first time he’s achieved the feat since mid-April 2023 when the speedster was scorching hot.
Mateo slumped over the final five months of last season, though, and was confined to a platoon role, starting almost exclusively versus left-handed pitchers. He opened 2024 in the same role, but since top prospect Jackson Holliday was optioned in late April, Mateo has progressively become a near-everyday player. His five extra-base hits across 40 plate appearances since May 2 match the same number he had in 165 plate appearances from May 1 to July 14 last year.
The 2-0 lead appeared to be enough for Rodriguez in his resplendent return. The sophomore fireballer had no need to show emotion for much of his start; he was dealing and flirting with a no-hitter. But after allowing the infield single, he was in trouble with the go-ahead run at the plate.
With runners on the corners and two outs, he fooled Mitch Garver on a 3-2 slider to escape the jam. Rodriguez spun after the punchout, pumped his fist and delivered a signature scream into his glove — his only release of emotion through 82 pitches. He walked off the mound to a standing ovation from the small Camden Yards crowd that waited out the 2-hour, 58-minute rain delay — most of which was dry — and watched from the trainer’s room as his lead dwindled.
“Way more than I anticipated,” Hyde said of Rodriguez’s performance. “Guy missed a couple weeks and we were going to keep him right around that 80-pitch mark, and he threw six shutout innings on 82 pitches. I thought his fastball command was a little erratic early, but he made pitches when he had to and a big punchout there to end the sixth. It was great to see him back out there.”
The offense went dormant until Henderson’s impressive opposite-field homer. The 22-year-old deposited Muñoz’s 98.5 mph fastball into the first row of the left field bleachers — an impressive and rare feat for a left-handed hitter. Only two others have done so since the wall’s inception in 2022: Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder James Outman and Rutschman.
“That’s a really, really impressive home run and unbelievable power from a 22-year-old left-handed hitter,” Hyde said. “It shows you the strength and the power that Gunnar has.”
The Orioles hope to win the series in Sunday’s rubber match with ace Corbin Burnes pitching opposite Mariners strike-thrower George Kirby.
Orioles designate reliever Mike Baumann for assignment, activate Grayson Rodriguez from IL to start Saturday vs. Mariners https://t.co/t6fNScK7Ij
— The Baltimore Sun (@baltimoresun) May 18, 2024
• Ryan Mountcastle wasn’t in the Orioles’ starting lineup for the first time since a sore knee kept him out April 23. Hyde said pregame it was simply a rest day for Mountcastle. The first baseman entered Saturday with a .188 batting average and .563 OPS over his past 64 plate appearances.
• Outfielder Ryan McKenna was claimed off waivers by the San Francisco Giants on Saturday. The Orioles designated McKenna for assignment Monday. McKenna had spent most of the past few seasons in Baltimore as a backup outfielder, defensive replacement and pinch runner. Hyde said Monday he wanted “whatever the best situation” for McKenna would be, and it appears that’s in the Bay Area. “He is a clubhouse favorite and well-liked in the dugout and the clubhouse with the energy that he brings,” Hyde said.
• Orioles owner David Rubenstein was at Saturday’s game with other members of his ownership group, tossing hats and beer koozies to fans behind home plate. Rubenstein, whose group is set to own a 97% stake in the club, was sitting in the first row right next to the Orioles’ dugout, about 10 feet from Hyde standing on the top step.
Mariners at Orioles
Sunday, 1:35 p.m.
TV: MASN2
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
