TJ Cotterill
The News Tribune
See that flash?
Not the one earlier in the game, when Dee Gordon from the Seattle Mariners dugout flashed his bare chest toward the Orioles’ dugout, while wearing a chin strap made of tape that was fashioned to hold his helmet atop his head.
No, the one in the top of the 10th inning.
Gordon blazed from first base and slid feet first into home safety on Jean Segura’s single to center field. Yes, really. Orioles center fielder Colby Rasmus briefly misplayed the ball hit his way and that was enough for Gordon to beat the tag at the plate and go first-to-home instead of first-to-third.
So for the second consecutive day the Mariners edged the Orioles in extra innings, getting one more run across in their 4-2 victory on Thursday to complete the four-game sweep — their first four-game sweep at Baltimore in Mariners history.
“Just find a way to win ball games,” Gordon told 710-ESPN radio afterward. “That’s all we do.”
And that salvaged a 10-game road trip that ends with the Mariners (51-31) going 5-5 after a 1-5 experience last week against the Yankees and Red Sox. They return home for the first time since June 17 to begin a three-game series against the Kansas City Royals.
This was the stretch that the Mariners had to survive. They’ve done more than that — they have the fourth-most wins in the majors behind the Red Sox, Yankees and Astros and are 20 games above .500.
“We have a lot of baseball left to play, but I go back to when the schedule comes out and everybody looks at is as, ‘Oh my gosh, look at that trip you guys are going to have at the end of June. That’s going to be the tell-tale story,” Mariners manager Scott Servais told reporters afterward. “Our guys didn’t look at it that way.
“You go out and compete every day and we have a lot of talent on this team and people around the country are starting to see it.”
And that was after the Mariners had some games get away from them in both New York and Boston, finishing 7-8 against the Red Sox, Yankees, Astros and Angels this month, though they were 4-8 if you remove their sweep of the Angels.
“We had a chance to get out of this with a better record,” Cruz said. “But it is what it is. We got in situations where we could win more games in New York and Boston, but we’re happy with what we’re doing and we’re focused on what we can do every day.”
The Mariners are 8-0 in extra-innings games this season.
Gordon ran so fast even he was tired. He sprawled onto his side in the Mariners dugout after scoring the go-ahead run.
“I was tired,” Gordon said. “Because that’s a big run for us. We want to be able to close out series and we were able to.”
He even had to readjust the helmet on top of his head before he slid into the plate.
Maybe he should have kept the tape strap?
Nelson Cruz followed two batters later with a run-scoring single, which was the Mariners’ first time driving in a runner in scoring position in their previous 15 attempts.
Juan Nicasio earned his first save of the season with a 1-2-3 bottom of the 10th and James Pazos earned the win. Both Alex Colome and 30-save Edwin Diaz were unavailable because both had pitched three consecutive games (with Diaz having pitched four of the past five games).
The Mariners finished 1-for-18 with runners in scoring position.
And that’s what partially spoiled another quality start from Mike Leake, who pitched seven innings and allowing two runs, flashing his wide repertoire of fastballs, breaking balls and cutters.
Check out his turnaround: Leake had a 6.00 ERA in 51 innings his first nine starts this season. His past eight starts? He’s thrown 56 2/3 innings with a 2.22 ERA — but he didn’t get the win.
“Mike Leake is a pro,” Servais said. “You’re always in the game with him. He figures out how to approach the other team and he’s very consistent. I feel great about getting him the ball every fifth day.”
And the way this was going, it looked like he’d get plenty of runs behind him.
Cruz quite enjoys hitting at Camden Yards, the Baltimore property where he’s was hitting .277 with 19 home runs in 110 games there entering Thursday. He’s only played more games at Rangers Ballpark and Safeco Field.
Cruz missed the previous two games because of a sore back and he experienced back spasms before Tuesday’s game.
But he towered a two-run home run just over the right-field wall in his second at-bat of the day in the top of the fourth inning — his 21st home run of the season, which is the fourth-most in the majors behind the Red Sox’s J.D. Martinez (25) and Angels’ Mike Trout (23) and Indians’ Jose Ramirez (23). Cruz has played at least 11 games fewer than each of them because of various injuries throughout the season.
The Orioles tied it back up in the bottom half of the inning, and it stayed that way for a while.
Manny Machado teed off on Leake for a solo home run and one out later Chris Davis went opposite way for his second consecutive game with a home run, despite entering the day batting .152 this season.
Opportunities were aplenty for the Mariners offense against Orioles right-hander Jimmy Yacabonis, the 26-year-old making his first major league start out of St. Joseph’s University, the same school Jamie Moyer attended.The Mariners put the lead runner on base in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings, but only Cruz with his home run brought that runner home. Through nine innings, the Mariners were 0-for-15 with runners in scoring position.
Just to illustrate:
Ben Gamel reached second with one out in the second and in the fourth; Guillermo Heredia was on second with one out in the third and seventh; Andrew Romine reached third with one out in the fifth. Not one of them scored, though the Mariners chased Yacabonis after four innings.
Game was at second again with two outs in the seventh when Ryon Healy struck out.
Leake lasted seven innings and to compare, the Orioles were 0-for-0 with runners in scoring position against him. Machado and Davis tagged him for homers, but he allowed three other hits, all singles, with six strikeouts and one walk.
He continued to do his innings-eater thing. This is the seventh time in 17 starts this season he’s lasted at least seven innings, his eighth consecutive start going at least six innings and he leads the Mariners with 107 2/3 innings thrown so far this year.
But it’s not often teams go 1-for-18 with runners in scoring position … and still win.
Gordon led off the 10th with a hustling infield single before Jean Segura lined a single into center field. Gordon handled the rest.
“Pitching got it done,” Cruz made sure to point out. “And that’s how we get it done — good pitching and when we need a hit with runners on base like Gordon and Segura, they’ve been doing it all year long, especially late in the games. I guess it was the same medicine today.”
Play of the game
Dee Gordon put his hand atop his helmet just before he rounded third. Again just before he slid into home plate.
But he blazed all the way from first base on Jean Segura’s single to center field in the top of the 10th inning for the go-ahead run in what would be the Mariners’ 4-2 victory.
Top batter
The Mariners needed Nelson Cruz back in the lineup, especially with Kyle Seager out with a toe injury.
Cruz went 3-for-5 with a two-run home run and a run-scoring single in the 10th to continue where he left off last week, when the 37 (almost 38) year old earned American League player of the week. He missed the past two games with a sore back.
“He’s a problem,” Servais said. “He really is. He felt much better today and we needed him in there with Seager out. He was huge.”
Though, so was Ben Gamel, who had hits in each of his first three at-bats and reached base four times, finishing 3-for-5.
Wasn’t a great day for Ryon Healy, who left six runners on base and finished 0-for-5 with four strikeouts.
Top pitcher
The Mariners needed a long outing out of Mike Leake with both Alex Colome and Edwin Diaz getting rest after pitching three consecutive games.
Leake lasted seven innings and allowed the two runs on five hits with six strikeouts.
But a big reason the Mariners are now 8-0 in extra-inning games is because their bullpen comes through in these outings. Nick Vincent, James Pazos and Juan Nicasio combined to allow one hit and two walks in the final three innings.
Quotable
Jean Segura on what it’s like when Dee Gordon gets on base:
“When Dee gets on base and when I get on base, with our speed, we make a difference,” Segura said. “A single we can get first-and-third right away, stolen base, we can bunt. That puts so much pressure on the pitchers and when you do that they make mistakes.”
