Julio Rodriguez, offense fall flat again as Mariners blanked by Orioles

SEATTLE – The chants of Ju-li-o! Ju-li-o! echoed throughout the T-Mobile crowd. A crowd looking to cheer for something other than midinning gimmicks and fans holding up their dogs on the video board.

For the first eight innings, there hadn’t been much of anything to generate excitement or even hope. The Seattle Mariners’ offense was stagnant and listless. And another solid outing from a starting pitcher was being thrown away like an empty cup from a $17 beer.

But with two outs and runners on second and third, thanks largely to the wildness of Orioles closer Craig Kimbrel and the Mariners’ willingness to let baseballs hit them, Julio Rodriguez stepped to the plate as the go-ahead run this with his team down two runs.

Could the Mariners young superstar, who has been mired in a miserable slump of late and performing well below expectations all season, deliver the big hit?

No.

Rodriguez struck out swinging and the Mariners were held scoreless in a game for the fifth time this season in a 2-0 loss to the Orioles.

Seattle starter George Kirby was given the Felix Hernandez treatment. No, he didn’t get a special cheering section. He delivered a solid outing against one of the most productive offenses in baseball and his teammates rewarded him with no runs and just two hits.

Orioles starter Grayson Rodriguez pitched 6⅓ scoreless innings, allowing a pair of singles to Josh Rojas with four walks and eight strikeouts. The two hits were one more than they got off Rodriguez in Baltimore.

Kirby worked the first three innings scoreless, allowing a bloop single and issuing a rare walk. But the Orioles were able to scratch out a run in the fourth inning. Gunnar Henderson led off with a single, advanced to second on a ground ball to the right side of the field that Ty France missed and Jorge Polanco fielded but couldn’t turn into a force out at second base. With one out, Anthony Santander hit a single through the right side past a diving Polanco to score Henderson.

Kirby started the seventh and quickly struck out Heston Kjerstad. But he couldn’t find his way out of the inning. Jordan Westburg was able to fight off an inside sinker and push a soft ground ball through the right side of the infield for a single. Cowser followed with a crisp ground ball single up the middle to put runners on the corners.

With lefty Tayler Saucedo warm in the bullpen and left-handed hitting Cedric Mullins coming to the plate, Scott Servais went to the mound to presumably take out Kirby.

But Servais didn’t reach fore the baseball. Instead, he had a conversation with Kirby as the rest of the infield and catcher Cal Raleigh looked on and then exited the mound for the dugout. He was giving his starter a chance to finish out the inning.

But even with the vote of confidence, Kirby couldn’t do it. Mullins hit a soft ground ball up the middle and into center field that ended Kirby’s outing and gave the Orioles a 2-0 lead.