The Seattle Mariners were hoping to play spoiler against the Baltimore Orioles as they opened their three-game series at Safeco Field on Monday night. The Orioles had other plans, however, as they roughed up the returning Hector Noesi in a 10-4 defeat of Seattle.
Nate McLouth led off the ballgame with a home run to give the O's an early lead. Mark Reynolds and Manny Machado added two-out RBI singles to make it 3-0 Baltimore before Seattle even came to the plate. Things went from bad to worse in the top of the second inning, as the Orioles pushed four more runs across. A J.J. Hardy double, an Adam Jones single, a Brendan Ryan error and a Reynolds double made it 7-0 Baltimore.
Michael Saunders hit his 16th home run of the season in the bottom of the second inning to finally get the Mariners on the board. Unfortunately, Matt Wieters countered with a two-run homer of his own in the top of the fourth to push the score to 9-1. Endy Chavez drove in the 10th and final Baltimore run with an RBI single in the top of the sixth.
Eric Thames led off the bottom of the eighth with a home run to get the M's one run closer. Seattle showed signs of life into the final inning, as John Jaso once again came through with a big two-run homer to cut the Baltimore lead to 10-4 before the M's made an out in the bottom of the ninth. Although the Mariners would load the bases with two outs for Trayvon Robinson, he struck out swinging to end the game.
Noesi lasted just 1.1 innings and was charged with seven runs (six earned) on eight hits and two walks. Not at all what the Mariners were hoping to get out of some late-season spot starts for the young pitcher, who was knocked around again and again before being demoted to Triple-A earlier in the season.The Mariners will try to even up the series on Tuesday night.
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