SEATTLE– Julio Rodríguez homered for the first time since June 15 and doubled, JP Crawford had a three-run double in the tiebreaker and the Seattle Mariners beat the Baltimore Orioles 7-3 on Thursday to avoid a three-game sweep.
“It was definitely great. Sometimes you have to go through difficult times to wake up,” said Rodríguez.
The slump in Seattle’s offense exploded in a big way and it was the Mariners’ best player leading the charge. Mired in a groundout at the plate, Rodríguez hit an 0-2 pitch from Baltimore ace Corbin Burnes about 428 feet from center field in the fifth inning for his eighth home run, pulling Seattle to 2-1.
Two innings later, Rodríguez scored Seattle’s five-run seventh inning with a double line drive off Baltimore reliever Bryan Baker. The Mariners finally loaded the bases against Baker (1-1) and with two outs and Crawford struck them out after Keegan Akin fell behind in the count.
Crawford is hitting .636 with 37 RBIs with the bases loaded over the past two seasons.
“In my opinion, what JP does is put pressure on the guy on the mound, he doesn’t put that on himself. And you can see that,” Seattle coach Scott Servais said. “He has a great feel for the attacking zone, so he won’t chase in those situations very often and when he lets the game come to him, that’s when it really works for him.”
Mitch Garver capped Seattle’s offensive explosion with a two-run home run, his 11th of the season.
“He pitched seventh very poorly,” Baltimore coach Brandon Hyde said.
Rodríguez’s downfall coincided with Seattle’s downfall, which caused the Mariners’ 10-game lead in the AL West to shrink to just two. In the previous 14 games, Rodríguez had zero RBIs and zero extra-base hits.
Rodríguez appeared to injure his right thumb while making a catch in center field in the sixth inning while battling the sun, but remained in the game.
“After I changed it a little bit, it disappeared,” Rodríguez said.
Seattle starter Bryce Miller managed to keep Baltimore’s offense in check with the exception of All-Star Gunnar Henderson. Henderson doubled to open the game — although he was thrown out while trying to advance to third — and hit a two-run shot for his 27th home run of the season.
Miller worked his way into the sixth, allowing just two runs and striking out six. Mariners relievers Austin Voth, Ryne Stanek (6-2), Trent Thornton and Andrés Muñoz committed just one error when Jordan Westburg hit his 14th home run in the eighth.
Burnes has debuted since returning from the paternity list, following additions to his family after his wife gave birth to twin girls. Burnes gave up Crawford’s single to start the bottom of the first, then retired 12 times before Rodríguez’s homer.
Burnes finished his game with a dominant sixth inning, allowed four hits and struck out six.
“I threw a few more pitches than I wanted to, but for the most part I was pretty pleased with it,” Burnes said. “I didn’t turn the ball over as well as I wanted to, but that can be attributed to the layoff.”
ROSTER MOVEMENT
Seattle claimed Duke Ellis off waivers from the New York Mets and assigned him to Triple-A Tacoma. Ellis has 34 stolen bases in 43 minor league games this season.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mariners: RHP Bryan Woo (hamstring) is expected to begin rehab at Single-A Everett this weekend. He could be joined by RHP Gregory Santos as he gets closer to returning to the Mariners.
NEXT
Orioles: RHP Albert Suarez (4-2, 2.43) will take over to open a three-game series in Oakland against the A’s.
Mariners: RHP Luis Castillo (6-9, 3.87) will start the opener of a three-game series against Toronto on Friday.
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