Opportunistic Orioles take rubber match over Mariners

Tomoyuki Sugano threw 5 1/3 strong innings before a rain delay and the Baltimore Orioles went on to hold off the visiting Seattle Mariners 5-3 on Thursday.
Gunnar Henderson provided a run-scoring double and the light-hitting Orioles cobbled together enough offense to win for the second day in a row.
By winning two of three games in the series, Baltimore has captured six consecutive series vs. Seattle.
Sugano (10-5), who was charged with one run which scored after he departed, allowed three hits and one walk with two strikeouts.
Julio Rodriguez homered and Josh Naylor and Dominic Canzone each had two hits for the Mariners, who had an eight-game winning streak end Wednesday night on Jackson Holliday’s walk-off double.
Trailing 5-2, the first two Seattle batters in the ninth reached on singles off Dietrich Enns. Then with one out, Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh, the major-league leader in home runs and runs batted in, walked as a pinch hitter to load the bases.
Randy Arozarena grounded into a fielder’s choice to knock in one run before Naylor grounded out to end the game, giving Enns his first save since 2021.
Logan Evans (6-5) took the loss, lasting four innings as a personal two-game winning streak ended. He was charged with three runs, two earned, on three hits with four walks.
The Orioles pieced together a three-run spot in the fourth inning with just one RBI. Jordan Westburg scored on Evans’ wild pitch before Ryan Mountcastle crossed the plate on a double-steal. Teammate Daniel Johnson got into a rundown and Mountcastle broke for home and arrived in time.
Jeremiah Jackson’s two-out single made it 3-0.
In the fifth, Henderson’s double and Mountcastle’s sacrifice fly stretched the margin to 5-0, with Baltimore compiling only four hits to that point. Westburg scored two runs.
The game entered a rain delay, which lasted more than two hours, with one out in the top of the sixth inning. When play resumed with Naylor on first base, Rodriguez drilled his 24th homer of the year, with Rico Garcia allowing the blast.