SEATTLE — Grayson Rodriguez didn’t want to see manager Brandon Hyde climb the dugout steps and start for the mound. The Orioles right-hander was toying with the rosin bag behind the bump, then threw the bag down with disappointment — mainly at himself, for allowing a plate appearance to get away from him.
Rodriguez wants nothing more, it seems, than to face this Seattle Mariners lineup. For the second time this season, Rodriguez mowed through the order, and if it hadn’t been for his four walks, he might’ve gone even deeper.
Instead, Rodriguez handed the ball to Hyde — with some reluctance, perhaps — and made his way to the dugout having completed 12 1/3 innings against the Mariners without a run against him. His 6 1/3 innings during Tuesday night’s 2-0 victory continued the trend, with few hard-hit balls and a career-high 19 swings and misses.
In Rodriguez’s previous start against Seattle, the 24-year-old allowed one hit and no runs over six innings. Between the two starts, Rodriguez has conceded just three hits while striking out 15 batters.
“He’s just got really good stuff,” Hyde said, “and when he’s got fastball command and that changeup going, he’s going to be tough against any lineup.”
Rodriguez faced a batting order that leads the majors in strikeouts and is dead last in batting average. There were groans Tuesday night — stretching into boos — at each whiff and inning-ending double play.
The most stressful situation was one of Rodriguez’s own making. Josh Rojas, the only Mariners player to record a hit, led off the sixth inning with his second single against Rodriguez. The righty walked Ty France. And then with one out, instead of turning a would-be inning-ending double play, Rodriguez spiked a throw to second base.
Gunnar Henderson, covering the bag, was fortunate not to receive a cleat to the leg when France slid. As it was, Henderson scooped up the ball with his bare hand and kept his foot on the bag to record one out, and with two outs and runners on the corners, Rodriguez punched out Cal Raleigh before issuing a bellow that could be heard among the boos of a frustrated home fan base.
“Really been focusing on getting the changeup back, and I think we were able to accomplish that,” said Rodriguez, who drew nine whiffs with that pitch. “Sprayed a lot of heaters up and away, but at least they were up in the zone and I think that helped.”
For the second straight start, Rodriguez has shown an untouchable quality. Last week against the Cleveland Guardians, Rodriguez served as a stopper, ending a five-game losing streak through seven innings of two-run ball.
He blanked the Mariners at T-Mobile Park, although a lineup that is famished for production helped. Rodriguez’s fourth walk of the night — when he lost a nine-pitch battle to Dominic Canzone — brought Hyde out of the dugout to lift Rodriguez for right-hander Yennier Cano.
“That’s a really good lineup over there, so I really needed it tonight,” Rodriguez said. “I think we had a really good plan going in, I faced them earlier this year in Baltimore, so I think we knew what we were getting into. But then again, that’s a playoff team, they’re loaded and we’ll probably see them in October.”
For as strong as Seattle’s starting rotation is, the Orioles could’ve plated more runs against right-hander George Kirby. In the fourth, with runners on first and second, Baltimore got on the board with an Anthony Santander single. He fouled off five pitches before driving the 10th pitch of the at-bat through the middle for an RBI.
“Just trying to put the ball in play and just try to bring that run to the plate,” Santander said, “especially when the [other] team has some really good arms.”
And in the seventh, the Orioles chased Kirby after Cedric Mullins poked another seeing-eye single through the infield with two runners on. But with bases loaded, right-hander Austin Voth entered and struck out Henderson and forced Adley Rutschman into an inning-ending flyout, keeping the Mariners close.
The tight score made the ninth inning treacherous for closer Craig Kimbrel. He hit two batters — barely making contact, but they still took a free base — and Raleigh came within a few feet of tying the game with a deep foul ball. But Kimbrel got out of the jam by striking out Julio Rodríguez, whom the Orioles decided to pitch to rather than walk to set up a force at each base.
“You never want to hit two guys there in that inning, put the tying run on base, but Craig’s done this a long time, and great job pitching out of it,” Hyde said.
The Orioles are coming off a month in which they clubbed the most homers in franchise history. They lead the majors in homers and on-base-plus-slugging percentage. But there will be nights like Tuesday — when little offense is needed because of the stout performance from a starter like Rodriguez.
“We won this game with pitching tonight,” Hyde said. “It shows you what kind of team we are. We can win in all different ways.”
