(Sports Network) - The Seattle Mariners put it all together in last night's win over the Baltimore Orioles with solid pitching and timely hitting. Another performance like that in Wednesday's finale of a three-game set would give the Mariners their fourth straight series win.
Luke French pitched 7 2/3 scoreless innings in Tuesday's 4-0 victory to set up tonight's possible series triumph and allowed three hits to pick up his second win of the season (2-3). Brandon League secured the win with two strikeouts over the final 1 1/3 innings.
"What can you say about the defense," French said on the team's site. "[The Orioles] put a lot of balls in play and the guys behind me made great plays."
Ichiro Suzuki, Chone Figgins, Franklin Gutierrez and Matt Tuiasosopo all had two hits apiece in the 11-hit attack, while Tuiasosopo put the game away with a three-run homer in the ninth inning. Tuiasosopo had four RBI for the Mariners, winners in six of their last nine games.
The Mariners are 3-2 on a 12-game road trip, but own an 18-41 mark away from the Emerald City this season. They'll also visit the Yankees and Red Sox on the excursion.
David Pauley gets the call for Seattle tonight and is just 1-4 with a 3.31 earned run average in 10 games (6 starts) this season. Pauley, however, earned the first win of his career the last time out in Friday's 3-2 triumph at the Indians. He delivered six innings of two-run ball, allowed seven hits and struck out five batters.
Pauley, a right-hander, faced the Orioles once in his career back on September 2, 2008 and gave up one run over two innings of relief for the no-decision in a 14-2 pounding of Baltimore.
Consistency hasn't been the key for Baltimore lately, as it lost for the fourth time in six tries yesterday. It fell to 10-5 under new manager Buck Showalter and Kevin Millwood was dealt the tough-luck loss for yielding just one run in eight innings.
"I expect Kevin to pitch well when he pitches and give us a chance to win," said Showalter. "He did that again tonight. We just couldn't do much with French."
Armando Gabino gave up the home run to Tuiasosopo in the ninth inning for the Orioles, who recorded just three hits in defeat. Josh Bell went 2-for-3 and Brian Roberts posted the other hit for the O's.
Baltimore, which is 1-1 on a seven-game homestand and is scheduled to host Texas for four games, will rest its hopes on winning the series with Jeremy Guthrie handling pitching duties this evening. Guthrie has won three straight starts and is 4-1 in his last five decisions. He previously took the mound in Friday's 5-0 win at Tampa Bay, as he tossed six shutout innings of two-hit ball, struck out three and walked four batters.
The righty improved to 7-11 in 24 starts and lowered his earned run average to 3.88. Guthrie looks to even his mark against Seattle tonight and sports a 2-3 mark with a 4.07 ERA in seven career starts in this series.
The Mariners have won five of eight games against Baltimore this season, but lost two of three matchups at Camden Yards from May 11-13.