Mariners clutch late to cinch shutout win over O's

SEATTLE -- A combination of game-winning hustle, a solid two-strike approach, the support of the home crowd after a tense weekend in Anaheim and a dose of the clutch helped the Mariners narrowly eke out a 2-0 win over the Orioles on Tuesday night at T-Mobile Park.

And the go-ahead sequence -- with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning -- was single-handedly orchestrated by the threesome that was sanctioned a day ago due to the benches-clearing incident against the Angels.

J.P. Crawford laced an opposite-field single on a breaking ball from lefty Cionel Pérez, Julio Rodríguez followed with one of the most bizarre infield singles by dodging a tag from O’s first baseman Ryan Mountcastle and Jesse Winker capped it off by scoring them both on a double off the right-center field wall that was nearly caught by Austin Hays.

Because Crawford, Rodríguez and Winker are appealing their suspensions, they are allowed to continue playing until that process is complete. Tuesday offered a reminder of how much Seattle’s offense will miss them if and when they’re shelved, but also, an urgency to take advantage of their presence while they’re here.

“Really, really big,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “You can't just say, ‘Two out, nobody on. What are our chances?’ You keep grinding. You keep fighting.”

Winker has received roaring ovations in the two days since he was front-and-center of the fracas at Angel Stadium, and none louder than after his critical hit on Tuesday, which came in an 0-2 count and against a high-and-away splitter from Félix Bautista. He nearly left the yard, too, going 402 feet to the deepest point of the ballpark before it caromed off the wall -- and almost in Hays’ glove. Statcast said the hit would’ve left all but just two other ballparks.

But the at-bat before was even wilder, when Rodríguez lined a 99.4 mph fastball back to the mound, off Bautista’s foot and toward the first-base line. Mountcastle lost possession of the ball on the transfer between scooping it and applying the tag on Seattle’s rookie, who was diving at an angle toward the bag and successfully attempting to dodge. Meanwhile, Crawford was racing around second, and Mountcastle wasn’t aware that Rodríguez hadn’t touched first, so he instead hauled the ball to third, leaving everybody safe.

“I was able to make hard contact and haul it down to first base, whenever I saw [Mountcastle], I was basically trying to slide away,” Rodríguez explained. “He tagged me, but the ball came out and he definitely didn’t know that I didn’t touch the bag, which was pretty cool. … I couldn’t because whenever he tried to tag me, I went around, but he didn’t see me, which was perfect.”

The hustle was hugely appreciated by his starting pitcher, Robbie Ray.

“What Julio did, that’s what you teach guys to do,” Ray said. “You play the game as hard as you can, and busting it down the line and scrambling to the bag. And then Jesse what he did, hitting one off the wall. That's just hard-nosed baseball, and that's how you're supposed to play the game. Julio is a special player, and it's really fun to watch when he gets going like that.”

Two runs is rarely a recipe for success, but the Mariners’ dominant pitching effort allowed just one hit while completing their fifth shutout.

Speaking of...

Ray pitching like a Cy
It’s taken a little more than two months into his first year in Seattle, but Robbie Ray appears to be back into Cy Young form.

Ray dazzled again against an O’s club that tagged him last month and rebounded by blanking Baltimore over seven scoreless innings, with just one hit and three walks allowed while striking out eight over 98 pitches (60 strikes).

Over his past four starts, Ray has given up just two earned runs in 27 innings for a 0.67 ERA with just 11 hits allowed and 36 strikeouts to 100 batters faced, with opposing hitters slashing .122/.210/.189 (.399 OPS) against him.

This run actually began one start prior, a June 6 outing in Houston, in which he added a two-seam fastball in the third inning after the Astros were all over him. The installation and thought process has been well chronicled, and the ensuing results have been off the charts. He again used the two-seamer more than any other pitch on Tuesday, and its effectiveness has better opened up the rest of his arsenal.

“He is some kind of competitor,” Servais said. “He's got great stuff and he's a pretty good athlete to be able to make those adjustments that quickly and take them right in the game. So it says a ton about not just the competitor he is, but the athlete, the pitcher he is. He's a pretty special dude. Glad we got him.”

The Mariners’ lineup managing just four hits before the eighth was shaping up for another quiet night, and the looming absences of the top three in the lineup is still on the horizon. But Ray finding his footing is a far grander development for the Mariners as they eye the second half.