The Baltimore Orioles came to Seattle not having lost a series in the month of June, but they now leave the West Coast with their first series loss for the month.
In a series that featured a pitchers duel, sandwiched between two blow outs, this was a series that faired in Seattle’s way.
Game one saw Tyler Wells finish the month of June undefeated and as the anchor of a shuffling pitching staff. Once again, he pitched five innings and picked up the win, moving to 6-4 on the year with a 3.42 ERA.
This was also a kind of homecoming for Adley Rutschman, and he made sure to say hello.
Rutschman, who had a six-game extra-base hit streak end Tuesday, would kick the game off with an RBI single, followed by a solo home run to ice his day.
Game two was a hard luck loss that saw the Orioles collect just one hit for the day. Though Dean Kremer would pitch seven innings of four-hit ball and the defense made some strong plays, it wasn’t enough.
The Birds bullpen, usually dependable, would give up two runs in the eighth inning that would be the deciding point of the game.
The highlight of the game would be Kremer, who now has an 18.2 scoreless inning streak, saw his ERA drop to 1.29 on the season across five starts. This is a completely different version than the Kremer seen from last season.
The rubber game of the series saw the Orioles try a bullpen game for the third time in 15 days. Unfortunately, this time around, the third time wasn’t the charm.
Austin Voth, who was getting his third start in a row, would give up only one earned run in three innings. Unfortunately, two errors by Jonathan Araúz would lead to two unearned runs, putting the Orioles in a 3-0 hole early.
It was an uphill battle that saw the usually untouchable Nick Vespi gave up six runs in just a third of an inning.
Though Trey Mancini would collect a two-run single, it wasn’t enough, as the Birds fell 9-3 to lose their first June series.
The Baltimore Battery ❌-Factor was Austin Hays, and though he did throw out a runner, his bat remained mostly silent, as he finished the series 2-for-12 (.167 BA) with one run scored and a solo homer in game one.
The Orioles are now 35-42 on the season and end June going 14-12 for their first winning month since August of 2017. The Birds look to start July with a bang and continue the upward trend of progress that was shown this month.
The Orioles have an off day Thursday before they head to Minnesota for a three-game series against the AL-Central-leading Twins.
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