Mariners 8, Orioles 3
SEATTLE -- Having lost out on sluggers Josh Hamilton and Justin Upton in the winter, the Seattle Mariners are starting to find enough offense from their Plan B additions.
Michael Morse and Kendrys Morales combined for five RBIs and three runs Wednesday, leading the Mariners to an 8-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.
Seattle (13-17) has now won two consecutive series after losing or splitting its first seven of the season.
Baltimore (16-12) had won four series in a row before the Mariners took two of three games this week.
Morse hit his third home run in four games, his ninth of the season, to give the Mariners a 5-0 lead in the fourth inning. Morales added three hits and three RBIs, while Michael Saunders also had a three-hit game.
Aaron Harang (1-3) did his part to make sure the early lead held up. He became the second Mariners starter in three nights to hold down the Baltimore bats, throwing five innings of one-hit ball before the Orioles finally scored on him in the sixth.
Harang allowed just two runs and four hits in six innings. Harang and Monday starter Joe Saunders allowed a combined eight hits and four runs over 15 innings against the Orioles.
Baltimore starter Wei-Yin Chen (2-3) lasted just four innings, giving up eight hits and five runs. The big blow came when Morse, who had three home runs during 107 games with the Mariners as an up-and-coming shortstop from 2005-08, took Chen deep in the fourth.
Morse seems to have his confidence back after enduring a mini-slump while recovering from a fractured bone in his hand. The injury kept Morse out of three games, and then he hit .146 in his first 10 games back before settling into a groove this week.
Morse has now hit safely in six consecutive games, with a .368 batting average, three home runs and four RBIs.
Baltimore scored two runs off Harang in the top of the sixth to pull within 5-2, but Morales hit a two-run double and scored on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning to extend the lead to 8-2.
The Mariners finished with 11 hits, and they've reached double digits in each of the three games against Baltimore. Over its past nine games, Seattle is batting .299 with 13 home runs after posting a .218 batting average with 17 homers in the first 21 games of 2013.
Baltimore's Manny Machado, a 20-year-old third baseman, had a double and an eighth-inning home run to extend his hitting streak to 10 games. He became the youngest Oriole to hit in 10 consecutive games, and he raised his season batting average to .311.
Mariners closer Tom Wilhelmsen threw a 1-2-3 ninth inning to extend his scoreless innings streak to 11, but he did not earn a save because Seattle was leading by five runs when he came into the game.
NOTES: The Mariners optioned RHP Blake Beavan to Triple-A Tacoma and recalled LHP Lucas Luetge. Beavan had an 8.44 ERA in his last two appearances out of the bullpen, and the Mariners are hoping to use him as a starter at Triple-A in an effort to get him back on course in that role. ... The Orioles won 16 games in April, matching the franchise's highest victory total in that month. Baltimore won 16 April games four previous times, most recently in 2008. ... Roberto Alomar was announced Wednesday as this year's inductee to the Orioles' Hall of Fame. ... After initially listing RHP Hisashi Iwakuma as Sunday's starter, the Mariners announced Wednesday that Iwakuma will stay in his usual spot and start Saturday's game at Toronto. Iwakuma has been battling a blister on his right middle finger, but he'll already get six days between starts because the Mariners have a travel day Thursday. LHP Joe Saunders is now listed as Sunday's starter. ... Entering the game, LHP Brian Matusz had stranded all 26 baserunners he'd inherited since being moved into the Orioles' bullpen last August. Matusz closed out the 2012 season by leaving 14 consecutive runners on base, and he stranded 12 in April.
