Toro, Castillo step up to seal Mariners' series win

BALTIMORE -- After splitting the first two games of the series, the rubber match turned into a back-and-forth four-hour marathon decided by one clutch hit in the 10th inning.

It was Abraham Toro’s triple deep off the center-field wall that scored Eugenio Suárez that made the difference for the Mariners in a 7-6 win over the Orioles in 10 innings on Thursday at Camden Yards. Seattle has won four of its last six games.

"Nice to win the series here,” said manager Scott Servais. "Abe Toro, late in the game, he's been coming up with big hits all year for us, ninth or 10th inning -- and another big one tonight.

“That's a really scrappy team over there. They do not quit. And they've got some guys trying to prove themselves. We had our hands full. It came down to a bullpen game and their bullpen was outstanding, as well. Big hit by us and we'll take it as we move on to Texas."

Suárez started the 10th inning at second base as the automatic runner before moving to third on a ground out. Toro was hoping to just make contact and get the run home against Orioles reliever Jorge López. He did more than that.

"He's got a lot of sinkers and curveballs, so I was just looking for something up in the zone," Toro said. "Trying to get a sac fly, so I was glad I got a good pitch to hit."

Diego Castillo tossed two scoreless innings to notch the victory, striking out three.

"It's as sharp as we've seen Diego in a long time,” Servais said. “His confidence is back, and putting him in those high-leverage moments, he thrives in that. But he's executing pitches. The key to the game tonight, for him on the mound, was really getting ahead in the count. He did that for the most part."

Seattle trailed 2-0 and 3-2 before a big sixth-inning rally. In the end, the offense put together 12 hits, including four doubles and a triple.

"Our offense is doing what they need to do,” said Servais. “Really happy with how we are swinging the bats. Had a good first night here. Last night, not so much. But tonight, we got it going again. We are going to need to continue to do that to create a little room for our bullpen. We need more depth in our bullpen. We need guys to step up."

Jesse Winker was a big part of the offense, generating three hits, including two doubles, a walk and an RBI.

"For a while now I have been trying to find these adjustments, and today, I kind of just went out and played," Winker said.

"I just thought he was super aggressive tonight,” said Servais. “If you look at it, he wasn't fouling the fastballs back tonight. He was putting them in play. He was on the fastball all night. His at-bats were awesome. He was on a mission tonight and it paid off for him."

The game heated up in the sixth. Trailing early, the Mariners batted around to score four runs against four Orioles pitchers.

Suárez's single into right field scored Julio Rodríguez to tie the game at 3. Facing reliever Cionel Pérez, Adam Frazier’s sac fly to left field scored J.P. Crawford to give the Mariners their first lead, 4-3. Backup catcher Luis Torrens' season-high third hit of the night was his biggest, a two-run single ripped into right-center field off Orioles reliever Joey Krehbiel that extended the lead to 6-3.

But not to be outdone, the Orioles scored three times in the bottom of the inning off of Mathew Festa, tying the game at 6.

Starting pitcher Chris Flexen got knocked around in the first, allowing RBI hits to Austin Hays and Ryan Mountcastle that gave the Orioles a 2-0 lead. Hays had a pair of run-scoring hits in his first two at-bats.

But Flexen got the biggest out of his night in the fifth. With a man in scoring position, the right-hander was able to force Hays to fly out to deep center field to end the scoring chance. Flexen finished five innings, allowing three runs on six hits.

Ty France’s career-high 13-game hitting streak ended with an 0-for-5 performance. Taylor Trammell smacked a double in the third, his fifth double in his last nine games.

Now, the Mariners venture to Texas for a weekend series against the Rangers, fresh off only their second road series victory of the season.

"It's huge,” Winker said. “Any time you can win a baseball game, it's big. That's a good team. They can hit, they can play defense and they can really pitch. Any time you can beat a scrappy team like that, it's big."