– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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BALTIMORE — The separating factor between the Seattle Mariners and Baltimore Orioles in the series opener on Tuesday night is what the teams did with the bases loaded. The Orioles left them loaded.
Seattle, through Josh Naylor, left the yard, and in the process, continued its hot streak atop the American League West.
Naylor capped a five-run inning for Seattle with a grand slam, lifting the Mariners to a 6-3 victory over the Orioles inside Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Monday evening. Randy Arozarena went 3-for-4 with a run driven in for Seattle while Dominic Canzone had two hits as Seattle played its fourth game of a 10-game road trip that will spend the entirety of this week on the Beltway.
The Mariners have won 10 of their last 13 games as it has opened up a two-game lead over the Texas Rangers in the AL West.
The Mariners tied it at 1 in the fifth on Ryan Bliss’ one-out sacrifice fly. Cole Young’s single ended Baltimore rookie Trey Gibson’s outing, and reliever Anthony Nunez walked Julio Rodríguez to load the bases. Naylor then lofted a fly just over the wall in right for his seventh homer of the season.
The Orioles closed within 5-2 in the seventh when reliever Matt Brash’s wild pitch reached the backstop and allowed Coby Mayo to score. Brash nearly walked Pete Alonso to force in another run two batters later, but Seattle challenged and Alonso was out on a called third strike. Colton Cowser grounded out to leave the bases loaded.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Tuesday evening’s game, with photos taken by staff photographer Timothy Rice. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 19 pictures in total.
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