The Seattle Mariners will look to earn just their second road series win of the season on Wednesday after opening a three-game set against the host Baltimore Orioles with a dominating 10-0 victory on Tuesday.
Seattle has won just one of its eight series as the visiting team so far, when it took two of three against the New York Mets from May 13-15.
The Mariners arrived in Baltimore having lost 22 of their past 32 games. It has been a disappointing start to the season after they posted their best record since 2003 last year.
They took a step in the right direction Tuesday. Seattle jumped out to an 8-0 lead after three innings against the Orioles, who wound up striking out 12 times while managing only five hits.
Seattle’s Taylor Trammell set career highs with three hits and four RBIs, and Cal Raleigh went 1-for-2 with three RBIs and a run. Ty France and Adam Frazier each added two hits.
Dylan Moore went 1-for-3 with three runs, and J.P. Crawford was the lone Mariner in the starting lineup who failed to get a hit.
Seattle rookie right-hander George Kirby (1-1) picked up the first win of his career by tossing six shutout innings. He allowed just four hits to go along with eight strikeouts and a walk.
“Great way to start the road trip,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “It was a nice way to get George his first win. He was outstanding.”
Orioles manager Brandon Hyde added, “I thought Kirby was really good. He’s got a really good arm with a mid-90s fastball, a good slider and a good changeup. I was really impressed.”
The Mariners will try to keep the momentum going behind Robbie Ray (4-5, 4.75 ERA). The left-hander has yet to find the form he displayed last year, when he won the American League Cy Young Award as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays.
Ray, who signed a five-year, $115 million deal with Mariners during the offseason, is coming off a 4-2 loss to the Oakland A’s on May 25. He gave up three runs, including two home runs, on seven hits and a walk in six innings. He struck out a season-high-tying 10.
Ray has lost his last two starts and four of his past six.
Last year with Toronto, Ray went 13-7 with a 2.84 ERA and a league-leading 248 strikeouts in 193 1/3 innings.
Ray has been far from Cy Young-worthy when he has faced the Orioles throughout his career. He has gone 2-2 with a 4.97 ERA, 38 strikeouts and 10 walks in five appearances, all starts. In his three starts against Baltimore last year, he allowed seven runs on 18 hits in just 15 1/3 innings.
The Orioles will counter with rookie right-hander Kyle Bradish (1-3, 7.31 ERA), who has been rocked in his past three starts.
He allowed six runs on six hits in just 1 2/3 innings against the Boston Red Sox on Friday after giving up nine runs on 13 hits with 11 strikeouts and five walks in 9 2/3 innings during losses to the Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees.
Bradish will be facing the Mariners for the first time.
–Field Level Media