Can the Orioles do the unthinkable and make it two series sweeps in a row?
The Orioles have finally done something that eluded them for the first two months of the season, putting together a little hot streak and winning several games in a row. It’s almost certainly too little, too late to change their overall fortunes for the 2025 season, but the longer they can keep it going, the nearer the longshot becomes and the better we’ll all feel about next year along the way.
Entering Thursday afternoon’s game against the Mariners, the Orioles have won five straight. This seemed impossible a week ago, even with the White Sox coming into Baltimore to get it started. The O’s were on Chicago’s level, and even in sweeping them, squeaked out a few close ones rather than demolishing a team that should be beneath them.
The two games in Seattle have still not featured much Orioles offense and yet they managed to win them thanks to some long overdue improvement from the starting rotation. It is nice to see.
The finale of the Seattle series brings the toughest task yet for Orioles hitters, at least on paper. Today’s Mariners starting pitcher, Bryan Woo, has actually been good in 2025, something that cannot be said of either George Kirby (so far) or Emerson Hancock, the two guys they faced in the last two games. The 25-year-old Woo brings a 2.82 ERA into the game through 11 starts after posting a 2.89 ERA in 22 starts last year. That’s a full season worth of pretty good results.
If the offense will be in short supply again, will Zach Eflin be up to the task of keeping the Orioles in the game? His only good start since returning from the injured list came against the White Sox, which almost doesn’t count.
Orioles lineup
- Jackson Holliday – 2B
- Adley Rutschman – DH
- Gunnar Henderson – SS
- Ryan O’Hearn – 1B
- Dylan Carlson – LF
- Heston Kjerstad – RF
- Emmanuel Rivera – 3B
- Jorge Mateo – CF
- Maverick Handley – C
I thought that maybe Colton Cowser’s return from the injured list would mean no more of Mateo in center field, but I was wrong. This is a typically brutal “day game as the final game of a series” bottom of the lineup. Who knows, maybe they’ll find a way to come through against Woo.
Mariners lineup
- J.P. Crawford – SS
- Jorge Polanco – DH
- Julio Rodríguez – CF
- Cal Raleigh – C
- Randy Arozarena – LF
- Rowdy Tellez – 1B
- Leody Taveras – RF
- Miles Mastrobuoni – 3B
- Cole Young – 2B