Baz brilliant after shaky first, but O's offense can't solve Woo 

SEATTLE -- The Orioles’ road trip hasn’t gotten off to a great start, but the continued emergence of Shane Baz as a staple of their rotation has been a positive takeaway for the club.

One could point out the difficult patches and unlucky breaks revealed once again in a 3-0 loss to the Mariners on a sun-splashed Thursday afternoon at T-Mobile Park, and there were a few, but Baz’s dominant rebound from a shaky first inning opened eyes.

Baz surrendered three runs on three hits and a walk in the first inning and then allowed singles to the first two batters he faced in the bottom of the second, but after that, he didn’t allow a hit through the next six innings.

“I think he just came out, I don’t know if flat is the right word, but obviously, he really settled into the game and it was impressive what he did,” Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said.

The rough and unfortunate realities of the series percolated at the end of the game.

Baltimore couldn’t do much against Seattle starter Bryan Woo, who fired seven shutout innings, striking out nine and giving up only three hits. They didn’t score off relievers Eduard Bazardo and Andrés Muñoz, either. The Orioles lost two of three in Seattle and now travel to Los Angeles to play the back-to-back World Series champion Dodgers.

But that wasn’t the only bummer. There was also lingering uncertainty with one of their stars, catcher Adley Rutschman, after a freakishly unlucky play where he was hit in the left ear by a throw and exited.

As for the earlier part of the game, it was a remarkable act of resilience by Baz. The right-hander retired the first two batters of the game, but Josh Naylor singled and reached second base on a fielding error by right fielder Leody Taveras. Baz then walked Dominic Canzone before giving up an RBI double to Cole Young and a two-run single to Colt Emerson. Just like that, it was 3-0.

“He got the two quick outs and then all three runs came with two outs,” Albernaz said. “Steady diet of getting behind guys early, especially in the first two innings, and he did a great job of really getting on the gas pedal to really pump the strike zone.”

Baz said it’s something he’s been working toward, and the numbers bear it out. He hasn’t given up more than three earned runs in a start since May 9 and he’s posted quality starts in five of his last seven outings.

“Today, the stuff was good,” Baz said. “I felt like I could throw all four [pitches], whatever I wanted, and I was able to kind of keep them off balance.

“So, yeah, it's been better. It's been really good.”

The problem, as was the case in the first game of the series vs. Mariners right-hander Logan Gilbert, was that Woo was just a little bit better.

Woo struck out five consecutive Orioles early in the game and didn’t give up a hit until Jackson Holliday’s double with two outs in the third. Otherwise, a Colton Cowser single and a Taveras base hit were all Baltimore could muster.

“Obviously, facing these guys last week, we probably knew that he might approach us a little differently,” Cowser said. “But it just felt like today, he commanded his fastball really well and was able to pitch off of that, and it's a good fastball.”

Albernaz tried to put the team’s not-so-great offensive output -- six runs in three games -- in the Emerald City in perspective.

“Seattle has great pitching,” Albernaz said. “We had great at-bats. All series, we had some really good swings, hard contact. And we also had some bad at-bats. The big hit eluded us with runners in scoring position. But I think with our guys, it’s just, keep doing our process, keep having great at-bats, and, you know, the time will come.”