6/3/25

(Seattle, WA) With a 3-3 record through the first six games of a nine-game homestand, the Seattle Mariners still had plenty of work to do to avoid another letdown of a homestand. After a failure of a series with Washington, Seattle bounced back with a nice series win over Minnesota with a couple of walk-offs. Now, it was a series with the most disappointing team of the 2025 season thus far, the Baltimore Orioles.

A World Series contender in each of the last two seasons, Baltimore entered the PNW with a tough record of 22-36, the fifth worst in the game. However, the Orioles also entered the series riding of wave of momentum and playing their best baseball of the season. Behind strong starting pitching, the Orioles came into the week as winners of six of their last eight games and only allowing three or more runs in the two losses.

Orioles 5, Mariners 1 (Game One)

In the opener, Seattle was really looking for some signs of optimism from George Kirby who had been extremely roughed up in each of his first two starts off the injured list. They would take on another guy known for his command and low walk rate in NPB MVP, Tomoyuki Sugano.

Things did not get off to a good start for the fourth-year starter but it was more bad luck than anything. A seeing-eye single by Adley Rutschman gave Baltimore the first baserunner of the game. Gunnar Henderson then shot a grounder back up the middle the kicked off the mound. J.P. Crawford would mishandle the ball, allowing Rutschman to move up to second and Henderson to reach. Another soft single by Ryan O’Hearn loaded the bases and Ramón Urías drove in the game’s first run with a sacrifice fly to right. Kirby would get Colton Cowser to fly out to end the inning after 30 pitches, with Baltimore leading 1-0.

Kirby used a coupled of strikeouts to pitch around two singles in a scoreless top of the 2nd. Tomoyuki Sugano was rolling early for the O’s and retired the first five batters that he faced. The sixth batter would be a different story. After getting ahead 1-0, Tellez got a curveball hanging in the middle of the plate and crushed it off the Hit-It-Here Cafe in right for a solo bomb. It was Rowdy’s ninth home run of the season and tied the game back up at 1-1.

Both pitchers faced the minimum in the 3rd thanks to double plays and Julio Rodríguez was stranded after a single in the bottom of the 4th. George Kirby retired Dylan Carlson and Jackson Holliday for a quick two outs to start the 5th before things fell apart. Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson both singled with two outs to put runners on the corners. Ryan O’Hearn made it three consecutive two-out knocks as he smacked one back up the middle to bring home Rutschman and make it 2-1. Ramón Urías would also smack one up the middle that cut Kirby’s lip in a scary moment. The out would be recorded and Kirby was OK coming off the field and after the game as well. However, his day would be done as he left the game after the 5th with Seattle trailing 2-1.

Baltimore feasted on Seattle’s bullpen while the Mariners continued to struggle against Tomoyuki Sugano. Eduard Bazardo would give up a solo home run to Colton Cowser for his second home run of the season, making it 3-1. Jackson Kowar would find success out of the Mariner bullpen as he spun scoreless innings in the 7th and 8th while facing the minimum thanks to a great diving stop by Cole Young at second. Still, Seattle needed the bats to wake up late as they continued to trail 3-1.

After Cole Young struck out looking against Bryan Baker to begin the 8th, Seattle put some pressure on the Orioles. Miles Mastrobuoni pinch hit for Ben Williamson and singled to bring the tying run to the plate. J.P. Crawford then recorded his third hit of the game with a single to center to put runners on the corners with just one out. With the go-ahead run at the plate, Jorge Polanco had a really rough at-bat as he couldn’t cash in on a couple mistakes and instead popped out to Urías at third for the second out. Julio Rodríguez would not fare any better as he went down swinging to end the threat. Seattle couldn’t cash in on a rare scoring opportunity and went to the 9th down 3-1.

Collin Snider’s tough stretch continued as Baltimore opened things up in the 9th. The first two pitches thrown by Snider ended up being a single for Coby Mayo and RBI double for Heston Kjerstad, making it 4-1. Jackson Holliday added one more with a one-out single to extend the Baltimore lead for Félix Bautista in the bottom of the 9th. He would mow down the Mariners in order to put a quick end to this game. Lack of offense and continued bullpen struggles were the story of the opener as the M’s dropped game one to the Orioles, 5-1.

Notable Performances

Orioles

Mariners

• Rowdy Tellez- 1-4, HR, RBI, R
• J.P. Crawford- 3-4
• George Kirby (L, 0-3)- 5 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO

What’s Next

With the loss on Tuesday and the Houston win over Pittsburgh, Seattle (32-27) falls out of first place once again in the AL West as they now sit behind the Astros by 1/2 of a game. Houston continues their series with the Pirates on Wednesday after defeating Paul Skenes in the opener. Texas lost once again and are now 4 1/2 games back of Houston while the red-hot Los Angeles Angels are now only five games back. The Athletics have fallen rapidly with an eight-game losing streak putting them 11 games back of the division lead.

Seattle will look to force a rubber game on Thursday by taking the middle game of the series on Wednesday night at 6:40pm. Two young pitchers with high ERAs due to a couple of really bad starts will take the ball for their team’s Wednesday night. For the Mariners, Emerson Hancock (2-2, 5.64 ERA) will make his tenth start of the season. He allowed 13 runs total against the Tigers and Yankees and if you take out those two outings, Hancock’s ERA drops to just 3.46. For Baltimore, Cade Povich (1-4, 5.29 ERA) will get the ball, looking to put a rough month of May behind him. Povich fixed his April home run problem but still got touched up allowing one hit per inning in his four starts, all games where Baltimore lost.

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