George Kirby bloodied by line drive to face; Mariners fall to Orioles

SEATTLE – Even in his most encouraging performance of the season, George Kirby couldn’t escape harm.

In a scary scene, Kirby took a line drive off his face on his 95th and final pitch Tuesday, a 102.7-mph shot off the bat of Baltimore’s Ramon Urias that ricocheted to Rowdy Tellez at first base for the final out of the fifth inning at T-Mobile Park.

With a bloody lip, Kirby staggered off the field and back to the home dugout, greeted there by Mariners trainers and escorted down through the tunnel to the clubhouse.

There was no immediate word from the Mariners on his condition.

For Kirby, it was a tough way to end his most promising start since his return from the injured list two weeks ago. He took the loss in the Mariners’ 5-1 defeat to an Orioles team that, at 23-36, has been baseball’s most disappointing this season.

Tellez hit a solo home run in the second inning for the only run the Mariners scored off Orioles veteran right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano, who allowed just five hits with five strikeouts over seven strong innings.

The Mariners, at 32-27, dropped a half-game back of the Houston Astros atop the AL West.

Kirby, despite a shaky first inning, allowed just two runs over five innings on eight hits – all singles. His fastball velocity was up to 97.7 mph

With the score tied at 1, Kirby got two quick outs to start the top of the fifth. But the Orioles got three straight singles after that to take a 2-1 lead, the final two by Gunnar Henderson and Ryan O’Hearn coming in 0-2 and 1-2 counts, respectively.

That’s been an especially frustrating point of emphasis for Kirby, who has struggled to put hitters away when he gets ahead in the count.

Kirby, who opened the season on the IL with shoulder inflammation, had allowed 11 earned runs over 82/3 innings in his first two starts.

It looked like it could be a struggle again Tuesday during a long first inning.

A misplayed ground ball up the middle by J.P. Crawford – ruled a hit for Henderson, but it could have easily been an error – helped load the bases with one out.

Urias hit a sacrifice fly to right field, and Adley Rutschman scored with a dive just ahead of the throw home by Leody Taveras, giving the Orioles a 1-0 lead.

Kirby escaped further damage when he got Colton Cower to fly out, but Kirby needed 30 pitches in the first.

He managed to put up zeros over the next three innings.

The Mariners, trailing 3-1, tried to rally in the eighth inning. Miles Mastrobuoni delivered a pinch-hit single off Orioles reliever Bryan Baker and Crawford followed with a sharp single up the middle, putting runners at the corners with one out.

But the Mariners got nothing out of that after Jorge Polanco popped out and Julio Rodriguez struck out swinging through a 97-mph heater at the top of the zone.

Colton Cowser, activated off the IL for his first game since late March, homered off Eduard Bazardo to lead off the sixth inning to give the Orioles a 3-1 lead.

The Orioles added two runs in the ninth off the Mariners’ Collin Snider to take a 5-1 lead.