Last week’s good vibes around the Orioles have been partly erased by three stupid losses in a row, but it’s too soon for this team to throw in the towel. After dropping Game 1 of this homestand against the Mariners last night, the Orioles will try to even the series against righty Logan Gilbert with lefty Trevor Rogers on the mound.
It no longer needs to be said, but it’s been a disappointing start to the season for Rogers (3-6, 6.29), who was so brilliant, with a sub-2.00 ERA in 19 starts last season.
The lefty has shown signs of life over his last two starts, though, throwing five scoreless each time before hitting a wall. He ended up surrendering four runs in six innings to Toronto two outings ago, and one run in 5 ⅔ versus lowly Boston last week. Hey, it’s better than getting bombed out of the first inning, right? The Mariners have not hit lefties well this year, so perhaps Rogers can keep up his nascent streak of effectiveness. He has history with Victor Robles (3-for-10 against him lifetime), Julio Rodríguez (2-for-6), Randy Arozarena (3-for-9), Mitch Garver (0-for-5) and Josh Naylor (2-for-5).
As for Seattle’s starter, Logan Gilbert has been a model of consistency for the Mariners over parts of six seasons. In five of six of those years, he posted an ERA below four, including this one (4-4, 3.79). This year, Gilbert’s peripheral stats tell an interesting tale: on the one hand, the righty is a leader in fastball velo, strikeouts and walks, but he’s also sustaining some of the hardest contact in the league: his average exit velocity of 90.7 is in the bottom 13th percentile of pitches. It looks like the trouble lies with his fastballs: hitters are slugging .629 against his four-seamer and .655 against his cutter. Time for O’s hitters to swing hard, sounds like. Very few current Orioles have faced Gilbert: Taylor Ward, who used to face him as an Angel, is 6-for-22, Leody Taveras is just 2-for-17 (although both hits were homers), Pete Alonso is 1-for-6 and Gunnar Henderson is 1-for-8.
Orioles lineup
- Taylor Ward DH
- Gunnar Henderson SS
- Pete Alonso 1B
- Colton Cowser LF
- Leody Taveras CF
- Coby Mayo 3B
- Jackson Holliday 2B
- Tyler O’Neill RF
- Sam Huff C
Mariners lineup
- Victor Robles RF
- Julio Rodríguez CF
- Randy Arozarena LF
- Josh Naylor 1B
- Rob Refsnyder DH
- Patrick Wisdom 3B
- Mitch Garver C
- Cole Young SS
- Ryan Bliss 2B








