8/12/23

Orioles 1, Mariners 0 (10)

(Seattle, WA) The 11th member of the Seattle Mariners Hall of Fame was honored on Saturday night when King Felix Hernandez took his rightful place amongst the greats in franchise history. There was also a baseball game to be played as the Mariners were looking for their ninth consecutive victory against the Baltimore Orioles. They would get an unbelievable performance from George Kirby, who looks like he could be the next Felix Hernandez. Unfortunately, that comes with a big negative. That negative plagued Felix throughout his career and it was a lack of run support. Seattle’s offense wasted yet another phenomenal performance from their young righty as the winning streak was snapped in extra innings as Baltimore knocked off the Mariners 1-0 in 10 innings.

Before the game began, we all took a trip down memory lane with Felix Hernandez. Felix joined Dave Niehaus, Alvin Davis, Dan Wilson, Randy Johnson, Jamie Moyer, Jay Buhner, Lou Pinella, Edgar Martinez, Ken Griffey Jr., and Ichiro in the greatest club in the Pacific Northwest, the Mariners Hall of Fame. Plenty other former teammates also joined the party as Franklin Gutierrez and longtime frenemy of Felix, Adrian Beltre surprised the former Cy Young winner on his big day. From the perfect game, to the immaculate inning, to the four strikeout inning, Felix had done it all but thanked all his fans, coaches, family, and friends and especially the King’s Court, the greatest baseball fan section in history. Tears flowed from the King’s eyes as he sat on his throne, enshrined forever in PNW sports history.

George Kirby looked just like Felix when the game started. He was utterly dominant from first pitch onward. Kirby face the minimum thru 7 2/3 innings, rolling right through the Orioles only allowing one hit against the first 23 batters faced. Of course we all know Kirby has incredible control and does not walk many batters and he would improve his MLB best strikeout to walk ratio in this one. After catching a pop up to end the top of the 9th, all Kirby could do was watch as the M’s continued to search for a run but he had done his part. Kirby went nine scoreless innings and allowed just three hits and no walks while striking out seven. For the third time in his career, Kirby went at least eight scoreless innings, but has not gotten a single run of support in those starts.

Opportunities were plentiful for the Mariner offense in this one. They put pressure on Cole Irvin and the rest of the Orioles pitching staff but could not push across a run. Seattle went 0-10 with runners in scoring position and left nine runners on base as well. 11 strikeouts at the dish did not help either as the M’s watched the scoreboard roll over to the 10th with the game still scoreless.

With the controversial rule of a runner starting at second base in extra innings, Andrés Muñoz stepped on the mound with Cedric Mullins in scoring position before he even threw a pitch. Things got even worse when Mullins stole third to put the go-ahead run at third with no outs. Muñoz got the dangerous Anthony Santander to groundout to Dylan Moore at short for the first out while Mullins remained at third. Ryan Mountcastle then became the deciding factor in this one with a base hit right back up the middle. Mullins scored the first run of the game and Baltimore had a 1-0 lead. An error by Dylan Moore then put runners on the corners with one out, but Muñoz pitched out of the trouble with just the one run allowed.

That one run would be enough for Felix Bautista. One of the best closers in the game did not have any issues with Cade Marlowe starting on second. Bautista struck out Josh Rojas, Julio Rodriguez, and Eugenio Suarez all swinging to put this one to bed as the Orioles evened up the series, knocking off the Mariners 1-0 and snapping Seattle’s eight-game winning streak.

With the eight-game winning streak now over, Seattle (63-53) will look to begin a new winning streak on Sunday at 1:10pm when they take on Baltimore (72-45) in the rubber game of the series. The M’s have won six consecutive series and Bryce Miller (7-4, 4.20 ERA) will do everything he can to make it seven straight in his sixth Sunday start of the season. Minus one hiccup in Arlington against the Rangers, Bryce Miller has been dominant in Sunday outings, going 23 innings with just two runs allowed in the other four Sunday outings. His three home Sunday outings have been even better as Miller has only allowed one run in the Sunday cream uniforms over 18 innings. Opposite Miller will be Kyle Bradish (7-6, 3.19 ERA) who is enjoying a strong second half run. Bradish has thrown quality starts in five of his seven outings since the All-Star break.

Notable Performances

Orioles

• Ryan Mountcastle- 2-4, RBI
• Cole Irvin (ND)- 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO
• Felix Bautista (W, 7-2)- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 SO

Mariners

• George Kirby (ND)- 9 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 SO
• Dylan Moore- 1-4, 2B
• Cal Raleigh- 1-4, 2B

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