SEATTLE – No team in baseball had a lower batting average or fewer hits before tonight than the Mariners. They scored the fourth-fewest number of runs. The pitching staff held opponents to the lowest average, but the offense sputtered and stalled while a division lead shrank like cotton.

Exposure to a hot starter wasn’t going to make the situation more comfortable.

Grayson Rodriguez followed his seven-inning, two-run outing against the Guardians by tossing 6 1/3 scoreless in the Orioles’ 2-0 victory before an announced crowd of 36,173 at T-Mobile Park.

The Yankees lost to the Reds earlier today, giving the Orioles a one-game lead in the American League East.

Anthony Santander broke a scoreless tie with an RBI single in the fourth inning, and the Orioles (54-31) delivered a nice bounce back after Sunday night’s 11-2 loss to the Rangers on ESPN. They’ve won five of six and posted their seventh shutout.

When breaking down the differences between his time with Triple-A Norfolk this year compared to the majors, the stuff that really stood out to him, Cole Irvin’s mind immediately went to the obvious contrast.

The one that might stand alone and made him smile.

He couldn’t resist.

“I think the postgame celebrations are slightly different,” he quipped.

That’s a fair point. The Orioles are in a league of their own when it comes to saluting wins and milestones. They are the masters of merriment. The lights, the smoke, the loud music, the shower cart treatments that threaten to deplete the condiments supply in the food room.

NEW YORK – The Orioles aren’t ready to announce their plans for reliever Dillon Tate, whose 30-day injury rehab assignment has reached its conclusion.

The choices are clear: Reinstate Tate and put him on the active roster, with a corresponding move necessary, or reinstate and option him to Triple-A Norfolk.

“We’re making decisions on that right now,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “I don’t really have anything to report right this minute, but it will be soon.”

Tate didn’t pitch in spring training due to a right elbow flexor strain. He’s made 10 appearances on his injury rehab assignment, the last five with Norfolk, and allowed 13 earned runs (15 total) and 19 hits with five walks in 8 1/3 innings.

The entire weight of the decision doesn’t come just from statistics. A balance exists.

After starting the year with the Orioles and giving up 15 runs and 17 hits over 12 2/3 innings his first three starts, lefty Cole Irvin, 29, found himself back in Triple-A. This was the first time he made more than one start in the minors since 2019.

With an 0-2 record, 10.66 ERA and 1.97 WHIP, the club decided that he needed a reboot. And he got it with the Norfolk Tides. He returns to the O’s roster today, and for now will work out of a bullpen role.

“Yeah, I got away from doing what I know how to do best, which is throwing sinkers down at the bottom of the zone and changeups. Got back to some good pitch mixes and got back to good locations. So, yeah, here to do a job and I’ll be prepared to do it,” Irvin said today of his stay in Norfolk.

He went 4-1 with a 3.19 ERA and 1.19 WHIP in five starts with the Tides. 

“It is part of the process,” he said. “When you have options, teams are going to use them when they have them. If you are not performing well that is just what happens in our game. It’s part of my job, part of our work, and my process is to keep my head down, keep working and get back. So, here we are.”

MINNEAPOLIS - The numbers over the past few starts didn’t impress. They might have concerned fans begging the organization to bring him to the majors as the next elite prospect to make his debut, setting the alarm early on Mondays, when these promotions usually happen.

DL Hall is fine. He’s made 11 starts at the Triple-A level after being held to only seven last summer at Double-A due to a stress reaction in his left elbow. The Orioles slow-played him in the spring, careful to build up his innings at a safe pace.

The nine earned runs (12 total) and 10 walks in 7 2/3 innings in his previous two starts before last night left his ERA at 5.17 and WHIP at 1.591. But he had 59 strikeouts in 38 1/3 innings for the season. He allowed one run and struck out 11 in 4 1/3 before those next two starts, which quieted some of the outside talk about promoting him.

Inside the organization, everyone has the same faith in Hall and sees the same qualities that make him profile as a top-of-the-rotation starter.

They were on display last night with four scoreless innings, one hit allowed and eight strikeouts against Gwinnett. The only hit was a bunt single, and Hall exited after 71 pitches.

Today’s forecast for a traditional, throwback-style doubleheader calls for cloudy skies. Rather than do my usual over-thinking about why we say “skies” when there’s only one, I’ll simply appreciate the dry conditions and celebrate mothers everywhere who perform a job much harder and more important than mine.

The farm system keeps dividing our attention, and in the best possible way.

Adley Rutschman is back at Triple-A Norfolk, with media and fans debating his debut date in Baltimore. Must happen at home, right? Like Matt Wieters on May 29, 2009.

Is May 16 too soon, a Monday when the Orioles open a four-game series against the Yankees? Otherwise, they could select his contract May 20 to begin a weekend series against the Rays.

The Orioles aren’t home again until May 31 against the Mariners, after they play three games in the Bronx and five – yes, five – in Boston.

The home runs puzzle Orioles reliever Travis Lakins Sr. and do considerable damage to his ERA and efficiency with inherited runners. His confidence and support system are fine, but he sees the numbers, too.

Manager Brandon Hyde praised him for saving the bullpen on the final day in Anaheim, after Chris Ellis left in the first inning with shoulder soreness and no batters retired, an entire game needing to be covered.

Ellis was charged with one run and one hit in three innings, but he entered with the bases loaded and surrendered Jo Adell’s grand slam.

Hyde appreciated how Lakins gave the Orioles two scoreless innings against the Red Sox in Sunday’s series finale and regretted that an attempt to get three more outs from him with a 9-1 lead resulted in J.D. Martinez’s grand slam and a pitching change.

The bullpen shut out the Twins over five innings last night in a 9-4 win. Hyde used Cionel Pérez and Dillon Tate for two each and Jorge López for the ninth in a non-save situation. Lakins didn’t warm.