SEATTLE — The Seattle Mariners have placed a lot of value on the versatility of their roster this season — both publicly and internally. And the Mariners will use that versatility in Game 2 of a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles at 6:40 p.m. PT on Wednesday. Gold Glove-winning utility player Dylan Moore will get the nod in right field for Seattle over switch-hitter Leody Taveras against left-handed Baltimore starter Cade Povich.

The switch-hitting ability provided by Taveras allows him to remain in the lineup across the whole game, but Moore’s ability against lefties has been well-documented this season. Entering Wednesday, Moore has hit .283 with five home runs and eight RBIs in 56 plate appearances against left-handed pitchers. Taveras has hit .296 with a double and three RBIs in 29 plate appearances against lefties.

“I think (Moore) handles lefties very, very well. And we’ve known that,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said in a pregame interview Wednesday. “Leody swings the bat well from the right side, too. But, obviously, trying to get as many (at-bats) for guys and keep them fresh. And today’s a chance for (Moore) to get in there. As we know, (Moore) plays everywhere and a chance for him tonight in right field facing a left-handed pitcher.”

Taveras has been Seattle’s starter at right field since the team claimed him off waivers from the Texas Rangers on May 6. In 24 games with the Mariners, he’s scored six runs and has hit three doubles and two homers with eight RBIs in 24 games. He’s slashed .188/.214/.300 with a .514 OPS while with Seattle.

Moore has scored 21 runs and has hit four doubles and eight home runs with 16 RBIs in 45 games. He’s slashed .264/.322/.481 with an .803 OPS.

MARINERS PITCHER GEORGE KIRBY SEEMINGLY FINE AFTER SCARY PLAY: The Mariners starting pitcher was participating with the rest of the team in pregame drills Wednesday just a day after a line drive made contact with his face. CLICK HERE

ANALYSIS: WHICH MARINERS PLAYERS COULD REPRESENT THE TEAM AT THE ALL-STAR GAME: All-Star voting is officially open and the Mariners will likely have several players representing the team at Truist Park on July 15. CLICK HERE

MARINERS OFFENSE STAGNATES IN 5-1 LOSS TO ORIOLES: The Mariners weren’t able to take advantage of the few opportunities they had against the Orioles and had frightening moment involving starting pitcher George Kirby. CLICK HERE

Continue to follow our Inside the Mariners coverage on social media by liking us on Facebook and by following Teren Kowatsch and Brady Farkas on “X” @Teren_Kowatsch and @RefuseToLosePod. You can subscribe to the “Refuse to Lose” podcast by clicking HERE.

SEATTLE — The Seattle Mariners weren’t able to muster the timely at-bats they needed and lost 5-1 to the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday at T-Mobile Park. It was the fourth-straight win for the Orioles and dropped the Mariners to 32-27. The Houston Astros took a half-game lead in the American League West over the M’s after their loss.

“On the offensive side, we had some traffic in certain occasions. But not able to get it in,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said in a postgame interview. “I thought (Baltimore starting pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano) was very tough tonight. Had a good (splitter) and I thought he was locating the fastball pretty well and had us in check. Tough night tonight.”

Neither team was able to truly separate for most of the game. The Orioles struck first after Adley Rutschman scored on an RBI sacrifice fly hit by Roman Urias in the top of the first.

Seattle knotted the game 1-1 after Rowdy Tellez hit a solo home run to right field in the bottom of the second.

Baltimore pulled ahead again in the top of the fifth after Rutschman scored his second run on an RBI single hit by Ryan O’Hearn. That inning was more notable for a scary moment for Mariners starting pitcher George Kirby.

Urias hit a hard liner up the middle at Kirby to end the inning. It deflected favorably for Seattle and Urias was out at first to end the inning. Kirby had the ball ricochet off his throwing hand into his face, and walked back to the dugout with blood trickling from his mouth at the end of the inning.

That play marked the end of Kirby’s night. He finished with three strikeouts, one walk and two earned runs on eight hits in five innings of work.

Wilson said after the game that Kirby seemed fine, and Kirby said that the liner didn’t hurt and there was nothing wrong with either his hand or his face. Wilson said the plan is for Kirby to get x-rays Wednesday.

“(Feeling) pretty good,” Kirby said after the game. “Didn’t even hurt, honestly. It got my hand — like 50/50 hand (and) mouth. But we’re good.”

Aside from the liner, Kirby’s day had some good mixed with the bad. He threw 95 pitches — a season-high for him since being activated off the injured list May 22 — but 50 of those pitches came in the first two innings (30 in the first, 20 in the second). A lot of the damage done was on softly-hit ground balls, which Kirby felt were more due to good swings by the O’s than bad location or delivery by him.

“Sinkers, some really good curveballs executed below the zone,” Kirby said. “Yeah. I think I did a lot better job this weekend making my pitches. Still would like to get ahead a little more. But I thought this was a great step in the right direction. And, yeah, felt great.”

After Kirby’s exit, the Orioles started to pull away. Colton Cowser hit a solo home run to left field to lead-off the top of the sixth.

Baltimore extended its lead further in the of the ninth courtesy of a Heston Kjerstad RBI double and Jackson Holliday run-scoring single. Those two hits resulted in the eventual final of 5-1.

Before Kjerstad and Holliday’s ninth-inning hits, Seattle had an opportunity to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth. Sugano’s day was done after he pitched seven innings, fanned five, walked one and allowed one earned run on five hits (one home run), and the M’s looked ready to take advantage of the opposing bullpen.

The Mariners had runners on the corners with one out. Miles Mastrobuoni was moved to third on a J.P. Crawford single. Crawford finished a team-high 3-for-4 on the night.

Jorge Polanco fouled out and Julio Rodriguez struck out swinging, leaving Mastrobuoni and Crawford stranded. Seattle finished 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left five on base.

The Mariners will have an opportunity to snap Baltimore’s win streak in Game 2 of the series at 6:40 p.m. PT on Wednesday. Emerson Hancock will start for Seattle and Cade Povich will start for the Orioles.

DAN WILSON PRAISES MARINERS RELIEVER EDUARD BAZARDO: The fifth-year pitcher has been a reliable arm for the Mariners in several different situations. CLICK HERE

TOP MARINERS EXEC REAFFIRMS TEAM’S STANCE ON HARRY FORD: Mariners fans have clamored for a position change in order to fast track the top 100 prospect to the big leagues. CLICK HERE

MARINERS LEGEND RANDY JOHNSON DISCUSSES SHARED LEGACY WITH ICHIRO SUZUKI: While discussing his future jersey retirement, the multi-time Cy Young winner talked about the connection he had with Suzuki. CLICK HERE

Continue to follow our Inside the Mariners coverage on social media by liking us on Facebook and by following Teren Kowatsch and Brady Farkas on “X” @Teren_Kowatsch and @RefuseToLosePod. You can subscribe to the “Refuse to Lose” podcast by clicking HERE.

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On this date in 1992, Michael Jordan lit up the Blazers in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. The Bulls won 122-89 behind 39 points from Jordan. He scored 35 of them in the first half, thanks to six 3-pointers. He made only five 3s in the 16 playoff games leading up to that night. He hit six more 3-pointers the rest of the finals. We all remember the iconic shrug.

Match Game

Grading Pacers-Thunder matchups

With Game 1 of the NBA Finals tipping off Thursday night and a lull between playoff action, we’ve got plenty of Bounce days to preview this series. We gave some aspects of the game to consider yesterday, and today we’re going to grade out the matchups for each team. We’ve got star matchups, secondary guys, key role players, entire benches and even the coaching matchup to consider!

Let’s slap a few grades down for each team in each category, determine a winner and see where it all shakes out:

Stars: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander vs. Tyrese Haliburton

Haliburton has become a big-time playoff performer, and we know how well he can control a game. Put him in a clutch situation, and you’ll see him push the opponent to the brink of losing their sanity and past losing their lead. On the flip side of that, SGA is the MVP of the league and has been brilliant in the playoffs.

Grade: A+ for OKC, A for IND | Winner: Thunder

Secondary Stars: Jalen Williams vs. Pascal Siakam

Williams has been excellent defensively during this entire run. His offense was abysmal against Denver until Game 7, and he rebounded with his scoring perfectly against Minnesota. He’s also just in his third season. Siakam has been a big addition to the Pacers over the last year and a half, and he has the experience of already contributing to a championship.

Grade: A- for OKC, A- for IND | Winner: Tie

Third Guys: Chet Holmgren vs. Myles Turner

I’m not sure you can rely on Turner to be a consistent defensive presence anymore, which is a far cry from what he used to be. Meanwhile, Holmgren struggles with consistency, but he’s pretty great for a 23-year-old with only two years on NBA courts. The latter will likely have a bigger impact, but Turner needs to win this battle.

Grade: A- for OKC, B for IND | Winner: Thunder

Key 3-and-D Wings: Lu Dort vs. Aaron Nesmith

Nesmith did a good job on Brunson, and he had the big Reggie Miller moment in Game 1 against New York. Dort will eat your soul on defense and is a pretty reliable 3-point shooter.

Grade: B+ for OKC, B for IND | Winner: Thunder

Fifth Guys: Isaiah Hartenstein vs. Andrew Nembhard

We’ve seen Nembhard step up big-time in these past two postseason runs, but Hartenstein is a big man the Pacers may not have an answer for. He might require them to play a lot more Tony Bradley, which isn’t a good idea.

Grade: A- for OKC, B for IND | Winner: Thunder

Bench battle: Thunder bench vs. Pacers bench

Let’s boil it down to Cason Wallace, Alex Caruso, Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe against Bennedict Mathurin, Obi Toppin, T.J. McConnell and Ben Sheppard. We’ve seen the Pacers have some great moments in the postseason so far. Wallace and Caruso alone for OKC probably win this matchup for the Thunder.

Grade: A for OKC, B+ for IND | Winner: Thunder

Coaching: Mark Daigneault vs. Rick Carlisle

Daigneault has already won Coach of the Year, had a 68-win season and coached the most dominant team (at least, by net rating) in league history. He’s one of the top coaches in the NBA. However, Rick Carlisle is a championship coach and has decades of experience battling out in the playoffs. I have to give the veteran coach the slight edge here.

Grade: A- for OKC, A for IND | Winner: Pacers

That’s a pretty heavy swing to the Thunder with a 5-1-1 tally here. Even if you convince me that Siakam is winning that matchup over Williams (which I’m not mad at), we’re still looking at 5-2 OKC. That doesn’t mean things can’t change once we’re on the court, though.

The Last 24

You, too , can learn to train like an MVP!

🏀 Training tips. There are five things you learn by training with SGA. Have to create an alter ego. 

🏀 Power Rankings. WNBA rankings are here, but can anybody challenge the historically dominant Liberty? Here come the Aces!

🏀 Take care. The Pacers and Thunder both take care of the ball at an elite level. Possessions matter.

✈️ Travel buddies. What was a key part of Indiana’s path to the NBA Finals? A trip to Paris!🎶 Jazz hiring. The Jazz are hiring Austin Ainge from the Celtics to be the president of basketball ops. Yes, that’s Danny Ainge’s son.

🎧 Tuning in. Today’s “NBA Daily” discusses whether SGA is having one of the best seasons in league history.

The Basketball 100

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Acknowledge Seattle

Is Seattle owed an honor in this year’s finals?

Back in 2012, when that young Thunder squad made the NBA Finals to take on Miami, it made sense to not bring up where it had come from. Oklahoma City had done a great job to help house the New Orleans Hornets in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, so executive Clay Bennett and company decided to pounce on the opportunity to move a team there permanently. They bought the Seattle SuperSonics, as they hit a bit of a stalemate in procuring a new arena in the Emerald City, and then ripped them from the city for the prairie. (The Hornets had spent the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons there before the Thunder relocated in 2008.)

Four years after the move, the Thunder were in the finals because general manager Sam Presti is unbelievable at his job. And 13 years after the move, Presti’s Thunder are back in the finals as a heavy favorite to win. They also look like they’re capable of setting up a dynasty. All the while, we still can’t get any kind of straight answer on a real plan as to when Seattle will get an expansion team back into the city.

To be fair, the timing of expansion is a complicated process, but the league hasn’t committed yet. The NBA did almost let the Sacramento Kings get purchased to be moved to Seattle back in 2013. But Vivek Ranadivé swooped in to buy the team and keep it in Sacramento. The Thunder are looking like a premier team in this league and an eventual champion. But I still know plenty of NBA-loving and -covering people with a sour taste in their mouths about how this team was ripped away from Seattle under David Stern’s watch.

There is a feeling that it’s been swept under the proverbial rug as a storyline. Maybe the NBA is supposed to do that. At this point, it’s been 15 years, and the franchise didn’t take the history with it. It’s been set aside for the eventual expansion team that will oddly come with its own championship before it even has a roster. I’m not even sure what I, or anyone else, would be asking of commissioner Adam Silver and the league to do here, especially considering the franchise divorced itself from the history tied to Seattle and the Sonics. And I’m not sure anybody is asking Thunder fans to apologize for this either.

Maybe the final closure, if OKC wins the title, is just an acknowledgment that the way they got there sucked and was wrong. Seattle did and still does deserve better. Because many of us still have fond memories of the franchise and want to see them again. Can the NBA truly ever fix this?

What’s Happening?

Five questions about the upcoming offseason

We’re less than a month away from free agency starting and a little more than three weeks away from the NBA Draft on June 25. That means teams are geared all the way up for trying to take down both the Pacers in the East and the Thunder in the West. Because this is a league of jealousy, mimicry and pettiness. Just how we like it.

A lot needs to be determined this offseason, but here are five questions I have about this summer right off the bat.

1. Do the Knicks have a Mikal Bridges dilemma? James Edwards III did a great job laying out the situation the Knicks will have with Bridges this offseason. He’s eligible for a four-year, $156 million extension, and you might remember Jalen Brunson caused quite the stir in taking a below-market value extension to give the franchise flexibility. Many assumed it was to help them re-sign his friend and college teammate. But the Knicks gave up five first-round picks for Bridges, and their main lineup with him wasn’t what it was all cracked up to be. If the Knicks feel like they have to swing for the fences, Bridges is probably the guy to move.

2. With who and how are the Celtics going to trim salary? The Celtics probably need to cut $23 million off the books this summer, if not more. That depends how much they’re willing to spend in a season we can assume Jayson Tatum will mostly, if not entirely, miss. The Celtics’ biggest challenge may be finding places that can easily absorb contracts. And, if they can’t, that probably means attaching draft picks in deals. Seeing how far they go in this process will be a tone-setter for the East.

3. Are Julius Randle and Myles Turner the most intriguing names to get? Names like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant are going to be volleyed about in the rumor mill, but the free-agent class is going to be pretty weak. Turner is going to be an unrestricted free agent. Randle had a great finish to the season, outside of the series against the Thunder andhas a $29.2 million player option that might be worth declining to enter the market. However, there isn’t a lot of cap space outside of Brooklyn, as teams are preparing for 2026. If Antetokounmpo and KD don’t end up actually being available, maybe we have kind of a dud summer in terms of big names moving.

4. Will Kevin Durant find his way out of Phoenix? Speaking of KD, how salty is he going to be about the trade deadline? Lots of rumors happened around him being dangled to the Warriors in a potential multi-team deal that would have landed Jimmy Butler on the Suns. Of course, I’m not even sure what was possible with a Mat Ishbia-owned team. It’s like watching a kid run a franchise mode in a video game. Antetokounmpo is the potential biggest target this summer, but Durant could make a lot of teams interested in a short-term star.

5. Who will look at the East landscape and be aggressive? Boston is likely cutting, rather than adding or adjusting. Cleveland and New York probably won’t make sweeping changes. Milwaukee is painted into a corner. Indiana is in a great place right now, obviously. Miami and Philadelphia are stuck in trying to figure out if they’re any kind of relevant. The potential for a big jump would be upstarts Orlando and Detroit. Do they have the aggressiveness to go make a big splash with the East landscape looking vulnerable?

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