Scoreless in Seattle: Grayson shuts down Mariners in stellar start

July 3rd, 2024

SEATTLE -- The Orioles’ offense took a little bit to get going in Seattle. made sure it wasn't an issue.

Baltimore’s second-year starter shut down a struggling Mariners lineup over the course of 6 1/3 scoreless innings, leading the Orioles to a 2-0 win Tuesday at T-Mobile Park.

With the victory, Rodriguez moved to 10-3, becoming the fourth pitcher in the Major Leagues to reach double-digit wins this season.

The 24-year-old is the third pitcher in Orioles franchise history to log 10 wins in his first 15 appearances of a season at age 24 or younger, after Wally Bunker in 1964 and Jim Palmer in 1969.

“He’s just got really good stuff and when he’s got fastball command and that changeup going, he’s going to be tough against any lineup,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said.

Rodriguez allowed two hits -- both to Josh Rojas -- and struck out eight, recording a season-high 19 whiffs. Nine of those whiffs came against his changeup, which he threw a season-high 28 times. Tuesday makes it back-to-back games for Rodriguez without allowing a hit against his changeup; he’s given up just four on the pitch since June 1.

“I think we can attack the lineup a lot of different ways,” Rodriguez said. “I think that's kind of the foundation of how I pitch, is off that changeup, and if I can get that working I'm pretty confident that I can do anything I want with it.”

Combine Rodriguez’s changeup usage with a Seattle lineup that’s hitting an MLB-worst .182 against offspeed pitches -- ranking third-worst with 138 strikeouts on the offering -- and the results might not be the most surprising, if no less impressive. Along with his May 18 outing against the Mariners at Camden Yards, Rodriguez has tossed 12 1/3 scoreless innings against Seattle this season, with three hits allowed and 15 strikeouts.

Rodriguez’s only real blemishes were self-inflicted. In the bottom of the fourth, he issued a pair of walks but bounced back from the second by getting Jorge Polanco to ground into an inning-ending double play.

An inning later, he couldn’t convert a chance for another double play on a comebacker, throwing low to Gunnar Henderson at second to put runners on the corners with two outs, but Rodriguez came right back, blowing a 97.4 mph fastball -- his second-fastest of the night -- past Cal Raleigh in a full count.

“He just kept his composure really well,” Hyde said. “[And] moved on to the next pitch.”

The Orioles gave Rodriguez all the run support he’d need in the top of the fifth. After Henderson led off with a single, Adley Rutschman got him to second on a fielder’s choice and Anthony Santander won a 10-pitch battle with an RBI knock just out of the reach of a diving Polanco.

Baltimore went back to small ball to extend its lead in the seventh, with Jordan Westburg, Colton Cowser and Cedric Mullins hitting back-to-back-to-back one-out singles to make it 2-0, the last of which came after Seattle starter George Kirby talked manager Scott Servais into letting him face one more hitter during a mound visit.

The Orioles managed just one extra-base hit for just the seventh time all season, on a soft Ryan O’Hearn chopper against the shift that bounced twice on its way out of the infield. But that would be plenty.

After Rodriguez’s dominance, Yennier Cano and Cionel Pérez kept it scoreless. Craig Kimbrel had to work around a pair of hit batters -- and a Raleigh 430-foot blast that curled just foul -- to seal the shutout in dramatic fashion and earn his 437th career save, moving him into a tie for fourth all-time with Francisco Rodríguez.

“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. We’ve hit a ton of homers and we’ve got speed on the bases and we can do little things, but you’re not going to score seven runs a night. You’ve got to be able to win low-scoring games like this. [Seattle] is a really good pitching staff, if not the best in the league, and Kirby, if you scratch a couple runs off, that’s huge, and we did a great job with that.”