Associated Press
SEATTLE — Domingo Santana hit his third home run in two days, Wade LeBlanc gave the Mariners a boost on the mound after another rough outing by an opener and Seattle beat the Baltimore Orioles 5-2 on Thursday night.
Santana’s homers helped the Mariners win back-to-back games for the first time since May 13-14 against Oakland.
The Orioles have lost eight straight, and have just three wins in June.
Santana tied it at 2 with a homer to right-center field off Orioles starter Dylan Bundy (3-9) in the sixth inning. Kyle Seager and Mac Williamson followed with RBI singles. The home run came a day after Santana hit two homers to fuel a sweep-averting Seattle victory over Kansas City.
LeBlanc (4-2) wiped out another difficult start by a Mariners opener with a steady outing over 6 1/3 innings in which he struck out seven. Seattle turned to reliever Tayler Scott to start with few other options in the bullpen. Scott walked three of the Orioles’ first five batters and was pulled after throwing 13 balls on 23 pitches.
LeBlanc entered the game an inning ahead of schedule and gave up a two-run single to Rio Ruiz before recording the third out of the inning. He sat down Orioles over the next six innings, however, to keep the Mariners in the game. He gave up a leadoff single to Pedro Severino in the third, but struck out three straight to end the threat. He walked Dwight Smith Jr. and intentionally walked Hanser Alberto in the sixth, but also got out of that inning with two strikeouts. His team backed him up with a double play in the seventh after Richie Martin’s leadoff single.
The seven Mariners openers now have a combined ERA of 19.50. Scott and LeBlanc combined in this one to give up just two runs and four hits in seven innings. Austin Adams struck out the side in the eighth, and Roenis Elias finished off the game for his eighth save.
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