BALTIMORE—The Orioles had a fast start in the first inning of the first game of Thursday’s doubleheader against the Mariners, but their offense sputtered after that.
Trey Mancini hit a two-run home run in the first, and the Orioles did nothing offensively after that.
Reliever Tanner Scott gave up two runs in the sixth, and Seattle beat the Orioles, 4-2, in seven innings — the length of doubleheaders.
Scott walked José Marmolejos to begin the sixth, then struck out Luis Torrens and Taylor Trammell looking. Dylan Moore singled, and J.P. Crawford pulled a slider to right for a double, scoring pinch-runner Braden Bishop and Moore.
Manager Brandon Hyde was going to rest Mancini, and he was not in the lineup for Wednesday’s game that was postponed by rain. Hyde said Mancini showed a lot of frustration while doing hitless in Tuesday’s doubleheader split with the Mariners.
However, Mancini batted fourth in Game 1, and he hit a two-run home run against Marco Gonzales in the first inning for a 2-0 lead.
Orioles starter Matt Harvey gave up a two-run home run to Mitch Hanniger with two outs in the fifth. Harvey worked 4 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on three hits. He walked one and struck out three.
“I’m pretty frustrated,” Harvey said “I feel like that game should have been 2-0, and I should have been out there the whole game. After the second, I got nitpicky around the zone, and get behind some hitters.”
Harvey has thrown five innings in one start and 4 2/3 in the other two. He has a 5.02 ERA.
“Definitely feel good, feel strong, just have to eliminate those innings that are making the pitch count go up,” Harvey said. “I’ve got to keep working. Those mistakes can’t keep happening, especially in a close game like that. I’m pretty frustrated by that.”
After Mancini’s home run, Pedro Severino and Ryan Mountcastle singled, but Gonzales retired the next 10 Orioles until Freddy Galvis’ fifth-inning walk.
“We came out swinging the bat really well in the first,” Hyde said. “Marcos Gonzales, he’s been around for a while. He really settled in after that. We didn’t hit many balls hard.
“Really good first inning, and not much else after that to take pressure off our pitchers.”
Hyde said he’s pleased with Harvey.
“He was in total control in that fifth inning,” he said. “He’s kept us in the game three times. Now, we’ve got to swing the bats and get him some runs.”
Maikel Franco singled against Rafael Montero to lead off the sixth, but Mancini hit into a double play. Severino grounded to third to end the inning.
The Orioles went down 1-2-3 against Kendall Graveman in the seventh to drop to 5-7.
Mullins’ streak ends; Cedric Mullins was hitless in three at-bats. He had an 11-game hitting streak to begin the season, and a 15-game streak dating back to last season.
Sceroler injured: Rule 5 pitcher Mac Sceroler went on the 10-day injured list because of right shoulder tightness. The move was announced on Wednesday, but it’s retroactive to April 13.
“He’s just got some shoulder soreness,” Hyde said. “We’re encouraged by the test results, and we hope that it’s not going to be very long.”
Sceroler last pitched on April 11th, allowing three runs on five hits in one inning.
“He’s a young guy that tried to manage it,” Hyde said. “He did come in after his outing and said he was a little tight.”
Coming up: The Orioles play three games in Texas beginning Friday. Jorge López will face Mike Foltynewicz on Friday. Hyde said that Dean Kremer, who threw 54 pitches in three innings in Tuesday’s second game, was a possibility to face Dane Dunning on Saturday.
“He feels ready to go, so we’re going to consider that,” Hyde said about Kremer. Wade LeBlanc and Adam Plutko are also possibilities.
On Sunday, John Means will face Kyle Gibson.
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View Comments
Why is he sticking with Lopez but doubting Kremer. They’ve both been terrible but Kremer is the future and Lopez is a fill in
I think his comment about Kremer is concerned with number of days of rest between last start Tuesday and possibly starting Saturday. That’s three full days...
Possibly not a very bright future.
I don't sense that he's doubting Kremer if he trusts him to possibly start him on three days' rest, Bruce.
Rich,
Any good news or box scores for alternate site scrimmages?
LUDONI
I put in a request.
Is Franco hurt, overweight,slow or just lazy???
How about indifferent towards hustling or giving 100% at all times?
It was McDonald who isn’t bad and some other guy who is as bad as Melanie Newman
I gotta turn it off.... play by play guy on TV only tolerable for a couple of innings
Radio play by play on my battery operated radio joined the top of third inning after the Seattle home run...Oy!
Kevin Brown & Benny "boy" McDonald
Palmer and Garceau not tolerable?
My tv had McDonald & another guy, it wasn’t Palmer...go O’s...
Melanie is easy on the eyes, but real hard on the ears. You really need descriptive narrative for audio play by play. I wish her luck, and expect her to improve, but for now it’s just awful.
I’ll take Palmer and Garceau any day.
I’m not saying this because the O’s lost game one, I’m really not. I hate the 7 inning rule. I’m also not fond of the runner placed on 2nd to start the 10th inning. I’d like to propose a compromise for extra inning games. I’m proposing to play extra innings under regular rules and if the game is still tied after 12 innings then at that point begin the 13th inning with the runner on second. As for the 7 inning twin bills, lower the ticket price to 78% of the regular price and I’ll think about going. Nah, check that, just stick with 9 innings.
Like that extra innings idea! Good compromise!
I’m in the rare minority in that I find the runner on 2nd exciting. But I could wait until the 10th-12th first. I completely agree about 7 inning games!! It feels like it’s barely even a game. The 5th inning is “late”in the game??? Come on. What a rip off
Well we have cut down on the strikeouts, now maybe start getting some hits and score.
Watched both games we just aren’t hitting, the starting lineup for game two had one player over .250
Only player batting over 0.250 before the start of the double header was Mullins. Stewart and McKenna were right at 0.250. It's a sad state of affairs in terms of hitting for the Orioles. Pitching isn't too bad...
What?!?! You’re down a run, you need a base runner and they give Franco the green light on a 3-0 pitch and he swings at ball 4! THAT is SO bad!!
Baseball IQ, someone is clueless...it’s getting old...go O’s...
Gruber, I cannot agree more. I know Franco is an impulsive hitter and he has been hitting lately, but why the HELL would you swing 3-0 with nobody out, down two runs in the last inning with a pitcher that’s searching for the strike zone? It astounded me. Take a friggin’ pitch or two. Man that made my commute home even better. NOT.
Agree about Franco. If he swung at 3-0 when they NEED base-runners on his own accord-bad decision/if Hyde gave the go ahead to an undisciplined hitting team shame on him. The season in a nutshell. Glad they got rid of Hanser and Nunez but you know what?--where are they when we need them? The good news though--at least they go back on the road where they play decent baseball.
Hopefully Hyde will be asked if Franco was given a green light in post-game interview...
13 down, 149 to go...it just has to get better than this!
I certainly hope so , This is tough to watch. Not sure what Franco was thinking swinging at ball 4!!!
Is it me or does Santander seem off, drives me nuts when guys swing like he did his last at bat...go O’s...