The Orioles have been told they should fail, falter and they are just lucky. Whether that serves as motivation or sheer desire to prove pundits wrong, the Birds have not backed down.
Every task seems to be met with resistance, yet the Orioles strike down the task. Every win has been questioned with, “Are they for real?”
After another series against a possible postseason team, the Orioles once again proved they are a force to be reckoned with. They continue to serve notice, yet until they are seen in person, the appreciation of the talent level they hold continues to leave teams awestruck.
The Seattle Mariners are the most recent team to see the first place Orioles show off that talent. After the Birds took two of three in Baltimore, they cemented the season series doing the same in Seattle.
They also preserved their streak of not being swept to 77 series, improving on the fourth longest streak in MLB history.
Let’s see how the game played out.
GAME 1: O’s 2, SEA 9
The first game of the series featured the Orioles coming straight off a game Thursday and flying to Seattle while the Mariners had two days off in four days. You quickly see a difference in the fire of both teams.
Kyle Gibson once again struggled against the Mariners and was charged with nine earned runs in 5.1 innings of work. He allowed 12 hits, including three home runs.
In two games this year, Gibson is 0-2, pitching 8.1 innings and allowing 14 earned runs (15.56 ERA) against the Mariners.
On offense, the Orioles totaled just four hits, with Anthony Santander’s solo home run and Jordan Westburg’s RBI single accounting for the only runs.
Jacob Webb and Nick Vespi each pitched 1.1 innings of hitless, scoreless ball, as the bullpen did its part to open the series. Unfortunately, the Birds would drop the game 9-2.
GAME 2: O’s 1, SEA 0 – 10 INNINGS
Félix Hernández was honored before the game, and both Cole Irvin and George Kirby did their best to honor him on the mound.
In a straight pitching duel, Irvin returned to the rotation and fired off five innings of two-hit, scoreless ball, walking one and striking out six. Impressively, he threw 67 pitches, with 52 of them being strikes.
The bullpen was just as effective, as Mike Baumann, Jacob Webb, Cionel Pérez and Yennier Canó combined for three innings of scoreless ball.
With the game scoreless going into the bottom of the ninth, the Birds turned to their All-Star closer, Félix Bautista, otherwise known as King Félix to Seattle fans. Bautista (W, 7-2) would pitch two innings, striking out four to pick up the win and bring in a new reign.
In the top of the 10th, Cedric Mullins was the runner on second to start the inning. He would jump the pitcher and steal third base, placing the leading run at third with one out.
Ryan Mountcastle would then drill a single to center field that would score Mullins and give the Birds a lead they would not relinquish.
The Orioles would win 1-0, ending the Mariners’ eight-game winning streak and extending their streak of not being swept to 77 series.
GAME 3: O’s 5, SEA 3 – 10 INNINGS
Another pitching duel, another epic ending.
Kyle Bradish once again proved he has the makings of a front-line starter, completing six innings and allowing just two earned runs. Bradish allowed five hits but struck out seven as he lowered his ERA to 3.18 in the no decision.
The Orioles scored two runs on a Gunnar Henderson sac-fly and an Austin Hays RBI single. For the most part, the offense stayed quiet until the later part of the game.
In the ninth, playoff baseball came to visit in the grandest of fashions.
Jordan Westburg would lead with a double and was replaced by pinch-runner Jorge Mateo. After a walk to James McCann, a balk moved runners to second and third.
All-Star Adley Rutschman would then ground to the first base side where Andrés Muñoz would flip the ball home. The speed of Mateo proved to be the difference as a matter of inches is all it took for him to slide in with the go-ahead run.
With the Orioles ahead 3-2 and one out in the ninth, Ty France sent a drive to right-center that Cedric Mullins tracked, and at the last possible moment, jumped, stretching as far as he could to bring the ball back and preserve the O’s 3-2 lead.
Unfortunately, the Mariners would tie it a batter later. That wasn’t enough to deflate the Orioles’ bubble, and the 10th inning came with Mullins ready to take his turn at the plate.
After missing a home run by a matter of inches, Mullins dug in again and, on a 3-2 count, sent the ball to the space needle, giving the Orioles a 5-3 lead.
From there, Shintaro Fujinami (S, 1) would relieve Nick Vespi (W, 1-0), and after a pep talk from James McCann, Fuji would shut the Mariners down and preserve the 5-3 victory.
BATTERY ❌-FACTOR
There was no doubt the Orioles needed a spark in this series, and that spark needed to be Cedric Mullins. It’s for this reason that Mullins was designated the BATTERY ❌-FACTOR this series.
Though he collected just one hit in the series, it was a big one, as Mullins was a major factor in a few different ways. Opening the series by robbing Julio Rodríguez of extra bases to topping it with a home run robbery of Ty France that could be the play of the year to this point.
When Mullins wasn’t making remarkable defensive plays, he was stealing third and scoring the winning run. To add a cherry to his performance, Mullins would hit the eventual game-winning home run, all but assuring that he would take front and center in helping decide the outcome of the series in the Orioles’ favor.
The win improved the Orioles to 73-45 on the season, and they also pushed their lead to three games with Tampa Bay losing earlier. The boys get no time to rest as they head to San Diego to visit former Oriole Manny Machado and the Padres.
Will the Orioles add to the Padres’ struggles, or will Manny will his team to halt the Orioles’ run of success?
What do you think of this series win against the Mariners? Let us know in the comments below! Make sure to follow The Baltimore Battery on Facebook, Twitter and TikTok, and use the hashtag #baltimorebattery when sharing our content!
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