O’s bats go cold in 2nd loss in a row
SEATTLE — A banner June behind them, the Orioles began July in a familiar state: struggling to muster enough offense to win on the road.
The boom-or-bust Orioles mostly busted in Friday night’s 5-2 loss to the Seattle Mariners, managing just five hits and scoring three or fewer runs away from Camden Yards for the 17th time in 35 road games. They are 47-32 overall but 16-19 on the road.
First baseman Chris Davis hit his 20th home run of the season in the second inning, a solo shot. Other than that, the only production the Orioles managed was a two-out RBI single by second baseman Jonathan Schoop in the third inning.
Schoop had two hits to lead Orioles players, while right fielder Joey Rickard doubled and walked in the loss. Homers hurt Gausman: Seattle made starter starter Kevin Gausman work for every out he got Friday, but save for a few big swings, he avoided much trouble. With one out in the first, left fielder Seth Smith homered for the second time in as many games to stake the Mariners (40-39) to a 1-0 lead.
After Gausman got through an easy fifth inning, the heart of Seattle’s order jumped on him. Right fielder Nelson Cruz doubled, then scored on a goahead home run by third baseman Kyle Seager in the sixth inning, Gausman’s last.
Gausman struck out seven batters without a walk for the second straight time but fell to 1-6. He’s allowed 13 home runs in 14 starts this season, and his ERA rose slightly to 3.97.
Without a lead to protect, manager Buck Showalter called on right-handers Odrisamer Despaigne and Chaz Roe in what remained a close game. Despaigne worked around a base hit to keep it a one-run game, but Roe walked Seager, then allowed a two-run homer to first baseman Dae-Ho Lee that put the game out of reach. Roe walked two batters and struck out two in his 2016 debut. Cruz kills the Orioles: Cruz’s double, which came on the former Oriole slugger’s 36th birthday, was the latest instance of his picking on his former club. Cruz has hits in 45 of 50 games against the Orioles in his career. He struck out in his other three at-bats, lowering his career batting average against the Orioles to .363. BALTIMORE Jones cf Schoop 2b Machado 3b Davis 1b Trumbo dh Wieters c Hardy ss Kim lf Rickard rf TOTALS SEATTLE Martin cf Smith lf O’Malley lf Cano 2b Cruz rf Seager 3b Lee 1b Lind dh Iannetta c Marte ss TOTALS Baltimore Seattle
RHE: Iannetta (4). LOB: Baltimore 5, Seattle 7. 2B: Rickard (12), Cruz (15), Lee (3). HR: Davis (20), off LeBlanc; Smith (8), off Gausman; Seager (16), off Gausman; Lee (11), off Roe. RBIs: Schoop (47), Davis (53), Smith (30), Seager 2 (52), Lee 2 (34). SO: Jones (2), Schoop (1), Machado (2), Davis (2), Trumbo (1), Wieters (2), Hardy (1), Martin (2), Smith (1), Cano (1), Cruz (3), Seager (1), Lind (2). Runners left in scoring position: Baltimore 1 (Rickard); Seattle 2 (Cruz, Marte). RISP: Baltimore 1 for 3; Seattle 2 for 6. BALTIMORE Gsmn L,1-6 Despaigne Roe SEATTLE LeBlanc W,1-0 Mntgmry H ,3 Diaz H ,6 Cshk S,20-24 6 1 1 1 3 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 5 1 3 2 1.50 2.33 1.88 2.39 Pitches-strikes: Gausman 107-77; Despaigne 13-9; Roe 26-14; LeBlanc 81-52; Montgomery 12-7; Diaz 14-12; Cishek 11-7. Groundouts-flyouts: Gausman 3-3; Despaigne 1-1; Roe 1-0; LeBlanc 6-4; Montgomery 2-1; Diaz 0-0; Cishek 1-0. Umpires: H, Mike Muchlinski; 1B, Mike Winters; 2B, Marty Foster; 3B, Gabe Morales. Time: 2:35. A: 33,006.