Currently: Hours after Baltimore Orioles manager Dave Trembley gave outfielder Nick Markakis a pregame talk about not trying to carry the club by himself, Markakis did just that.
After leading his team to a close victory in its last game, Markakis looks to help the Orioles get their sixth win in seven games against the Seattle Mariners as the clubs close a three-game series at Safeco Field on Thursday night.
Markakis hadn’t given the Mariners much to worry about this season, going just 5-for-22 with nine strikeouts in the season series before his final at-bat on Wednesday night. He had struck out in seven of his previous nine at-bats overall when he sent a first-pitch fastball five rows into the bleachers beyond right field for a tiebreaking home run. The Orioles (12-9) pulled out a 3-2 win.
“A little bit of a relief, but the biggest part is it helped us win the ballgame,” Markakis told the Orioles’ official Web site.
Trembley liked what he saw during Markakis’ final at-bat.
“Nick just needs to be himself,” he said. “I’ve been seeing Nick try to catch up in one at-bat maybe for the last five.”
Wednesday’s win was Baltimore’s fifth in six games against Seattle (11-11). The Orioles swept a four-game series at Camden Yards from April 4-7, and are batting .272 with seven homers overall against the Mariners.
Baltimore pitchers, meanwhile, have posted a 3.23 ERA in the season series by holding Seattle to a .196 average.
The Mariners could have had a good shot at ending their struggles against the Orioles with ace Erik Bedard eligible to come off the disabled list for this game against his former team. However, the left-hander’s return is being pushed back in order to give him another throwing session in the bullpen.
He is scheduled to start Saturday against Oakland.
In his place, the Mariners will turn to Jarrod Washburn (1-3, 4.13 ERA), who’s hoping to avoid losing his third straight start. After falling to Kansas City on April 14, he gave up season highs of four runs and 10 hits in six innings of a 4-1 defeat against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday.
Washburn is 6-4 with a 4.52 ERA in 13 career games—12 starts—against the Orioles. Markakis is 1-for-9 with five strikeouts against the left-hander.
Washburn will face Baltimore left-hander Adam Loewen (0-1, 6.32), who’s coming off his first loss of the year. Loewen gave up three runs and six hits while walking five in the 3-1 defeat against the Chicago White Sox last Wednesday.
He was originally scheduled to start Tuesday, but the team gave him some additional time off to work on his command.
“Pretty much the whole philosophy … is to get as many pitches as I can down in the strike zone,” Loewen said, emphasizing the extra time between starts has nothing to do with his surgically repaired throwing elbow. “That’s the only thing we’re trying to accomplish right now: Simplify everything.”
Loewen is 0-1 with a 7.36 ERA in three career games - two starts - against the Mariners. He gave up four runs in 4 2-3 innings against them in his first start of the year April 5, but the Orioles rallied to win that game 6-4.
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