Baltimore @ Seattle preview
T-Mobile Park
Last Meeting ( Apr 19, 2010 ) Baltimore 2, Seattle 8
In a tale of clubs going opposite directions, the Seattle Mariners will host the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night in the second game of a three-game series at Safeco Field.
The Mariners, winners of five of their last six games, emerged victorious in Monday's series opener by an 8-2 score over the Orioles, who are off to a pitiful 2-12 start.
Seattle benefited from superb pitching by Doug Fister, who took a no-hitter into the seventh inning before allowing a single to Nick Markakis. The base hit also kept alive Markakis’ streak of reaching base safely in all 14 games this season, but that was one of few highlights for the Orioles. Fister finished the inning, allowing three hits and one run on the evening.
The Mariners scored seven runs in the third, highlighted by a two-run homer by Casey Kotchman and a two-run single by Ken Griffey Jr.
The crowd of 14,528 was the smallest in the history of Safeco Field, which opened in July 1999. Plenty of good seats will be available for the second game of the series Tuesday night as about 31,000 tickets were available as of Monday.
Seattle will try to continue its strong pitching of late with left-hander Jason Vargas, who might be making one of his final appearances in the starting rotation. He is likely to be sent to the bullpen when former Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee returns, perhaps as soon as May 1.
Vargas made three starts against Baltimore last season, posting an 0-1 mark with a 2.81 ERA.
Countering for the Orioles will be right-hander David Hernandez. He allowed five runs in five innings of a 6-2 loss against the Oakland Athletics on Thursday. Hernandez is 0-1 with a 5.56 ERA in two starts against the Mariners.
Seattle center fielder Franklin Gutierrez, who is by far the team’s top hitter at .426, left in the seventh inning of Monday’s game with tightness in his groin and is day-to-day. If Gutierrez, who had two hits Monday, is unable to play, he likely will be replaced by Eric Byrnes.
The Orioles could see the return of third baseman Miguel Tejada, who has missed the past two games with a right hip adductor strain. He is batting .239 on the season.
Baltimore received worse news on Felix Pie, who is already on the disabled list. He could miss at least three months with a more serious upper back injury. An MRI on Monday revealed the outfielder has a torn left latissimus dorsi muscle.