After continuing their scorching-hot streak of results by brushing aside the Padres over a two-game set at Petco Park this week, the Orioles will now look to extend their ongoing seven-game winning streak versus the Seattle Mariners as they begin a four-game set at Safeco Field.
The Orioles (47-30) are soaring as we roll into July and as a result of their latest excellent run of form, the O’s have opened up a 5.5-game advantage over the Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays for first place in the AL East.
As good as the O’s were in the spring to begin the campaign, they’ve kicked off the summer in superb fashion, going 19-8 thus far in the month of June. If they can notch a win on Thursday, the Orioles will have recorded their first ever 20-win month under the guidance of Buck Showalter.
The Mariners (39-39) have cooled down a bit as the season wears on and are set to host the Orioles currently ranked third in the AL West and already 11.5-games behind the Texas Rangers (51-28) for first place in the division.
However, despite their 3-7 record over their last ten games, the M’s only trail Boston and Toronto by three games in the AL Wild Card standings.
The red-hot Orioles squad will be looking for payback after the Mariners snatched two games out of three at Camden Yards back in May to take the first series of the season between the two clubs, but the O’s still own a 23-14 advantage over the hosting Mariners since the beginning of Showalter’s first full season in 2011.
Let’s take a glance at the starters for the four-game clash at Safeco:
Orioles ace Chris Tillman (10-1, 3.52 ERA) will take the mound versus Taijuan Walker (3-6, 3.45 ERA) in the series opener on Thursday.
Tillman has been a thorn in the Mariners’ side ever since they shipped him to Baltimore in the infamous Erik Bedard trade. Over seven career starts, the Anaheim native has registered a perfect 7-0 record with an outstanding 2.96 ERA and 1.02 WHIP versus his former club while holding Seattle’s sluggers to a lowly .203 batting average.
In his last outing against the Mariners on May 18th, Tillman allowed just two runs on four hits over 6.1 innings with three walks and six strikeouts in a 5-2 O’s victory at Camden Yards.
The 23-year-old Walker owns a 0-1 record with a 5.52 ERA over three career starts versus the O’s, but seems to be hitting top form as of late. The Mariners promising flamethrower has posted a 1-0 record with a superb 1.65 ERA over his last three outings.
In his last outing against the Orioles, Walker was on the losing end of the O’s 5-2 victory on May 18th against Tillman & Co. after allowing four runs (three earned) on four hits over five innings with two walks and three K’s.
Kevin Gausman (1-5, 3.93 ERA) is set to take on Wade LeBlanc (0-0, 0.00 ERA) on Friday night.
Gausman will look to pick up right where he left off after holding the Rays to four hits over 7.2 shutout innings with zero walks and seven K’s en route to his first win of the campaign in the O’s 5-0 victory on June 25th. In two career starts versus Seattle, the 25-year-old is 0-1 with a 2.63 ERA.
The last time Gausman faced the Mariners, the Colorado native allowed three runs on six hits over seven innings with two walks and eight K’s but received the loss in a 3-0 Mariners victory.
LeBlanc will be making his second start of the season after scattering just three hits over six shutout innings versus the St. Louis Cardinals on June 24th. The last time that the 31-year-old southpaw faced the Orioles was back on June 18th, 2010, while he was a member of the Padres… and I on the other hand had just finished my junior year of High School.
Tyler Wilson (4-5, 4.50 ERA) will get the nod versus southpaw James Paxton (1-3, 4.15 ERA) for Saturday’s contest.
Wilson, 26, has been impressive as of late, registering a 2-0 record with a 3.79 ERA over his last three starts, but will be looking to erase the memory of his first career start versus Seattle on May 19th. The Lynchburg native allowed five runs on six hits over six innings with three walks and three K’s in the 7-2 loss.
The 27-year-old Paxton has held his own in the rotation since Felix Hernandez landed on the DL with a calf injury, but he’s only faced the Orioles once in his career. On August 2nd, 2014, the native Canadian and University of Kentucky alum allowed two runs on four hits over 4.1 innings with three walks and five K’s in a 6-3 San Diego win.
Ubaldo Jimenez (5-7, 6.63 ERA) is set to take on Hisashi Iwakuma (7-6, 4.34 ERA) in the series finale on Sunday,
I hope this isn’t premature or a jinx, but over his last two starts Ubaldo has looked revitalized and full of confidence again while giving the rotation a much-needed boost and the bullpen a much-needed rest when he’s been on the mound. In two starts against the Padres, the 32-year-old former All-Star has allowed just three runs on seven hits over 11 innings (2.45 ERA) along with 12 strikeouts.
Over six career starts against the Mariners, Jimenez has recorded a 2-2 record with a 5.05 ERA. In his last outing against them on May 17th, the DR native was tagged for six runs on five hits over 4.1 innings with three walks and three strikeouts.
And we all know what happened the last time Hisashi Iwakuma took the mound against the Orioles.
On August 12th, 2015, the 35-year-old Iwakuma dipped his arm in gold and proceeded to throw a complete-game no-hitter while walking just three and striking out seven Orioles en route to the 3-0 win and near-perfect game.
Over four career starts, the native of Japan has registered a 1-2 record with a stellar 2.51 ERA and 0.80 WHIP versus Baltimore.
The Orioles pitching staff comes into the four-game clash in the Emerald City with the eighth-best ERA in the AL (4.24), but they may have a tough task on their hands in silencing Seattle’s dangerous offense.
Four-time All-Star and former Oriole Nelson Cruz (.280, 20 HR, 53 RBI) is still lighting up the majors at the age of 35, while six-time All-Star and five-time silver slugger Robinson Cano (.305, 19 HR, 54 RBI) is back to his MVP-caliber ways this season.
The Mariners also have a formidable quartet of a supporting cast with the likes of Kyle Seager (.265, 15 HR, 49 RBI), Adam Lind (.242, 11 HR, 34 RBI), Dae-ho Lee (.284, 10 HR, 30 RBI) and Leonys Martin (.258, 11 HR, 26 RBI) in their ranks…so yeah, Seattle can definitely make it rain (literally and figuratively) when they are locked in and bring their ‘’A’’ game.
Seattle comes into the imminent series versus the O’s ranked sixth in the AL in scoring (4.82 runs per game) and seventh in batting average (.261) while ranking third in the entire league in home runs (113).
But we also know what the Orioles dynamic line-up can do when they’re all locked in. Led by strong MVP candidate Manny Machado (.332, 18 HR, 49 RBI) current home run champion Mark Trumbo (.282, 23 HR, 60 RBI) and the blazing-hot duo of Jonathan Schoop (.301, 13 HR, 46 RBI) and Adam Jones (.267, 16 HR, 50 RBI), the O’s lead the majors in home runs (124) while ranking second in the AL in scoring (5.19 runs per game) and third in batting average (.273).
This should be a great clash between two clubs that put the ‘’O’’ in offense. You could say it’s an accurate and sometimes a rhetorical prediction, but I have a feeling there’s going to be a high percentage of rain over the next few days in Seattle…and it should be a blast to watch.
Here’s to getting even with the Mariners!
