The visiting Seattle Mariners might want to be careful with the fastballs they deliver to Baltimore’s Jackson Holliday when the teams meet Thursday night in the finale of a four-game series.
Holliday, a 22-year-old infielder, hit a grand slam Wednesday night to help the Orioles post a 7-2 victory that halted a four-game losing streak.
“I kind of had a game plan of they’re going to throw a lot of fastballs and just got to be ready and be on time,” Holliday said of Seattle’s pitchers.
The Orioles will try to forge a split of the series on Thursday. Wednesday’s outcome marked only Seattle’s fourth loss in the last 15 games.
The Mariners, who are 17-17 on the road, will be without reliever Matt Brash after he went on the 15-day injury list for the second time this season Wednesday – both times with a right lat strain. Domingo Gonzalez was called up from Triple-A Tacoma and had a rough appearance in Wednesday’s loss, giving up four runs and four hits over two innings.
Seattle has welcomed utility player Miles Mastrobuoni back from the 60-day injury list at the expense of infielder Ryan Bliss’ roster spot. Bliss made key plays earlier in this season, but the Mariners opted for Mastrobuoni’s versatility.
“We’re in a spot where we’re particularly a little bit banged up, and guys are feeling it a little bit as we get into this long road trip,” Seattle manager Dan Wilson said.
Meanwhile, rookie shortstop Colt Emerson could be back in the lineup Thursday after dealing with back spasms this week.
“We’re getting very close,” Wilson said of Emerson’s return to action.
The Orioles have injury topics aplenty as well, particularly regarding catchers Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo. Rutschman hasn’t played this week, and Basallo has seen limited duty as designated hitter. Basallo is 0-for-9 across his last five games.
“Just doing what’s best for Sammy,” Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said prior to Wednesday’s game. “Long season, and like I said, he’ll be ready off the bench.”
The Orioles hope to get sustained production out of outfielder Tyler O’Neill, who has three doubles across the past two games after going 13 games without an extra-base hit.
“I think everyone knows that he’s not the best version of himself right now, but he’s been working hard the whole season to get back to show what he can do,” Albernaz said.
Right-hander Bryan Woo (5-4, 3.74 ERA) will start for the Mariners on Thursday. He’ll try to bounce back after yielding five runs and nine hits in 6 1/3 innings in a 7-3 loss Friday at Detroit, though his previous outing saw him scatter two hits over seven scoreless innings against Arizona.
Woo lost last June in his only career outing against Baltimore, giving up four runs and four hits over six innings.
The Orioles will turn to right-hander Kyle Bradish (3-7, 3.89 ERA), who matched his season low by going only four innings in Saturday’s 6-4 loss at Toronto. He allowed five runs on nine hits.
This will be the first time in more than a month that Bradish has faced a team outside of the American League East. He’s 1-0 with a 3.06 ERA in three career starts vs. the Mariners.
–Field Level Media
