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The Mariners were unable to gain any ground in the AL West after losing game three to the Orioles. Former Mariner Adam Jones hit a game winning solo home run in the eighth inning.
The Mariners (28-26) look to sweep the Baltimore Orioles (24-29) in the the final game of the three game series on Wednesday afternoon at Safeco Field. The slumping Orioles have lost five straight games which is currently the worst losing streak in all of baseball.
Michael Pineda (6-2 2.42 ERA) will take the mound for the Mariners. Pineda was not throwing his best stuff against the New York Yankees in his last start. The rookie lasted a season low five innings, giving up three earned runs and walking a career high five batters in his last outing on May 27th.
Brian Matusz (0-0 0.00 ERA) makes his season debut for the Orioles after being sidelined with an injury in the first two months of the season. As a rookie last season, he led all American League rookies in strikeouts (143) and went 6-0 with a 1.57 ERA in his last eight starts.
This game figures to be an intriguing pitching match up that pits two of the league's top young hurlers against each other. Pineda currently leads the American League with strikeouts per nine innings at 9.38.
First pitch at Safeco Field is scheduled for 12:40 p.m. PT with coverage on ROOT Sports and 710 ESPN AM.
For more news and information regarding the Mariners and tonight's game head on over to SB Nation's Mariners blog, Lookout Landing.
With two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning and the Seattle Mariners trailing the Baltimore Orioles by two, Justin Smoak absolutely crushed a pitch from Jeremy Guthrie. On a somewhat chilly night at Safeco Field with the roof open, Smoak hit a no-doubter to right field, plating three and giving the Mariners a one-run lead, 3-2. It was all Seattle needed as Brandon League shut the door and the Mariners came away with one of the more fun wins of the season, thanks to Smoak's heroics and impressive display of power.
I'm not sure why Brendan Ryan's quote about getting ready for Wednesday's game took on a life of its own, but it did. Speaking to reporters following the Seattle Mariners' 3-2 win on Tuesday night, Ryan had this to say about the day game following a night game (via Shannon Drayer).
Brendan Ryan quote of the night...12:40 tomorrow? I might put my eye black on now.
And with that, the media machine began buzzing as announcers as fans were encouraged to wear eye black to Wednesday's game. When you're winning, everything is done with a giddy tone.
I'm sure Jeremy Guthrie is a nice guy, but no part of me feels bad for the Seattle Mariners teeing off on him in the eighth inning to secure a 3-2 win on Tuesday night. Guthrie pitched a complete game without allowing an earned run, thanks to the way the game is scored, but was still tagged with a loss after Justin Smoak took him deep with two outs in the eight. Brandon League slammed the door shut and the Mariners had escaped with an incredibly unlikely one-run win.
And then this happened (via Guthrie's Twitter account).
No hot water to left in showers at #Safeco field- #CherryOnTop #SweetFace
Well that kind of stinks, but it's also pretty funny at the same time.
Baltimore Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie was dominating the Mariners offense up until he reached the eighth inning with two outs.
After two fly outs, Ichiro came to the plate and reached first base on an error by Guthrie, and then Brendan Ryan singled to right field. With two runners on, Justin Smoak launched a Guthrie change-up into left field for his eighth home run of the season, breaking Guthrie's shutout and giving the Mariners a 3-2 lead.
Through seven innings of work, Guthrie had kept the Mariners scoreless, only allowing three hits and striking out nine batters. Smoak has been struggling at the plate as of late, he was 2-20 with only two RBIs in six games leading into his eighth inning at-bat.
While Smoak provided the late inning offense for the Mariners, Erik Bedard turned in another respectable performance in Tuesday night's win. Bedard finished with two earned runs over six hits and seven strikeouts in 6.1 innings.
Reliever Chris Ray was credited with the win, he came in for Bedard in the seventh inning and held the Orioles scoreless. Brandon League notched his league leading fifteenth save in the bottom of the ninth, which secured the series victory for the Mariners.
Seattle (28-26) is now 0.5 games behind the first place Texas Rangers (29-26) in the AL West.
I thought nothing of what seemed to be an innocuous tweet from Christian Caple of the Seattle PI ahead of Tuesday night's Seattle Mariners game. Jack Wilson took the field early and was wearing catcher's gear, which made me wonder if he was just goofing around or wanted to wrap himself in as much protective gear as possible to prevent injury. Turns out Wilson may actually be practicing to catch for real, though only in an emergency role.
The Mariners (27-26) can win their fifth series in a row with a victory against the Baltimore Orioles (24-28) in Tuesday night's game between the two ball clubs. Seattle is currently 1.5 games back in the AL West from the first place Texas Rangers who have won three straight games.
Erik Bedard (3-4 3.48 ERA) faces his old team for the third time since he joined the Mariners in 2008. In two starts against the Orioles in 2009, he struck out 15 and surrendered three runs over six hits in 10.1 innings. Bedard has not allowed an earned run and has only allowed three walks total in his last two starts.
The often injured left hander has now made nine starts since the beginning of the season and is starting to look like the ace the Mariners traded for three years ago,
"Obviously, the thing with Erik is that he's healthy again, and he's free and easy with his arm. That's the No. 1 thing," Mariners Manager Eric Wedge said. "But I think you're seeing that his confidence is building with each outing, and that's a great thing for him."(Via: MLB.com)
Taking the mound for the Orioles is Jeremy Guthrie (2-6 3.63 ERA). Guthrie gave up four runs and nine hits in his last start on May 26 in a win against the Kansas city Royals.
First pitch at Safeco Field is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. PT with coverage on ROOT Sports and 710 ESPN AM.
For more news and information regarding the Mariners and tonight's game head on over to SB Nation's Mariners blog, Lookout Landing.
Your quote of the day on Monday comes from Seattle Mariners shortstop Brendan Ryan, who asks what many of us have been wondering for years.
Brendan Ryan in the clubhouse: "Is Kansas City trying lose this game on purpose?"
Via Ryan Divish. No, Brendan, that's just Royals baseball.
The Mariners bounced back with a 4-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Memorial Day after suffering a brutal 7-1 loss on Sunday to the Yankees. Doug Fister struck out a career high nine batters and only allowed one walk in 7.1 innings of work.
Seattle got off to a hot start with Ichiro breaking an 0-10 streak to lead off the first inning. After Ichiro stole second base and advanced to third on a throwing error, Brendan Ryan drove him home with an RBI ground out to second base.
Two batters later, after Justin Smoak walked, Jack Cust hit a long fly ball to right center field. It looked as if the baseball was going to leave the park, and Cust even glanced at the flight of the ball after he hit it, however, it bounced off of the top of the wall and Cust sprinted all the way to third base for his second career triple. Smoak scored on the play and extended the Mariners lead to 2-0.
In the bottom of the third, Orioles starter Jake Arrieta loaded the bases and walked two consecutive batters, bringing the Mariners lead to 4-1. The Orioles bullpen shut out the Mariners for the rest of the game, however, the damage was already done in the short 2.1 innings Arrieta was in the game.
Baltimore's offense was not completely quiet. Mark Reynolds hit a solo home run in the third inning that reached the upper deck in left field. The Orioles also added two runs in the eighth inning to cut the Mariners lead to 4-3.
Despite the late inning surge, the Mariners bullpen was able to hold the lead with Jamey Wright, Aaron Laffey, and Brandon League combining to shut out the Orioles in two innings of combined work. Brandon League notched his 14th save of the season.
For more news and information regarding the Mariners head on over to SB Nation’s Mariners blog, Lookout Landing.
Mariners Vs. Orioles: Baltimore Wins Game Three To Avoid Sweep, 2-1
Despite another strong performance by Michael Pineda, the Mariners (28-27) were unable to come up with enough offense to complete a three game home series sweep at Safeco Field over the Baltimore Orioles (25-29).
Both teams got on the board early in the second inning. In the top of the second, Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy hit a solo home run into left field off of Pineda that landed in the Orioles bullpen.
The Mariners then got on the board in the bottom of the second after a two out Jack Wilson single that drove in Miguel Olivo from second. Center fielder Adam Jones fielded Wilson's single and threw it perfectly to the Orioles catcher, Matt Wieters. However, Olivo then collided with Wieters at the plate and knocked the ball out of Wieters' glove, scoring the Mariners first and only run of the game.
After Orioles starter Brian Matusz exited the game in the sixth inning, Orioles relievers Jim Johnson, Koji Uehara and Kevin Gregg kept the Mariners scoreless for the rest of the game. For the Mariners, Pineda struck out seven and only surrendered one walk and one earned run in seven innings of work against the Orioles.
The two teams would stay tied at 1-1 until the top of the eighth inning when Adam Jones launched his seventh home run of the season off of Jamey Wright into the upper deck of left field. The Mariners offense was unable to come up with any late inning offensive magic similar to Tuesday night's win and fell 2-1 to the Orioles.
For more news and information regarding the Mariners head on over to SB Nation’s Mariners blog, Lookout Landing.
Jun 01 7:11p by Kevin Cacabelos