Late comeback, clutch bullpen give Mariners 'gut-check' win in Baltimore

BALTIMORE -- Calling any series in mid-May significant might be a stretch within the marathon MLB season, but for the Mariners, this three-city weave that began at Oriole Park and extends to Yankee Stadium has nonetheless represented an early barometer of their standing among the American League powerhouses.

And despite an incredibly shaky start to this stretch, after Friday’s blowout and virtually nothing going until late on Saturday, Seattle eked out a thrilling 4-3 win -- easily among its best of the young season.

The postseason is still eons away, but Scott Servais managed Saturday’s tight tilt like it was a playoff game, even if it’s way too early for him to say as much.

“Gut-check win for us,” Servais said.

The Mariners didn’t get their first hit until the sixth inning and didn’t get their first hit out of the infield until the seventh, yet they pulled ahead for good in the eighth when Cal Raleigh ripped a 105.8 mph double into the deepest corner of left-center within the new dimensions of Oriole Park. That sent Julio Rodríguez off to the races all the way from first base, after he legged out an infield single.

Dylan Moore followed with a huge insurance run two at-bats later, a double down the left field line for his fourth hit of the series, all of which have been for extra bases.

That gave Servais breathing room to use Trent Thornton for the eighth inning and hold off using Andrés Muñoz, who locked down his eighth save, but only after surrendering a solo homer to Gunnar Henderson. But Muñoz rebounded and fired a 100.4 mph heater past Adley Rutschman for the final out -- tied for his fastest pitch of the year.

“You try to line the pockets up with the bullpen and where it's going to go, but somebody's going to have to get some big outs,” Servais said.

The biggest came via Ryne Stanek, who was summoned to face Rutschman in a tie game with two on and one out in the seventh.

Stanek, whose fastball has been tagged to a .500 slugging percentage this year, pitched to the scouting report by exclusively darting splitters and sliders past Rutschman, who entered play leading MLB with a .797 slug against heaters. Stanek then induced a groundout to Ryan O’Hearn with a splitter, and shouted in celebration as he walked off the mound.

“The heater is still good, but the ability to land other things in situations obviously makes things a lot harder on the hitter,” Stanek said. “For me, just being able to get people off the heater, it just opens up so much more for me.”

Stanek has struggled with consistency, with runs surrendered in seven of his 17 outings entering Saturday. But the Mariners believe that getting into his secondaries more could catapult him.

“Being a part of the bullpen is kind of a thankless job -- we're the offensive line,” Stanek said. “Nobody really gives a [crap] who you are until you mess up. And like, everybody in our bullpen cares about each other a lot."

Seattle’s bullpen alignment came together beautifully, especially given how heavily Muñoz has been used, with two four-out saves and a pair of five-out saves, one as recently as Wednesday.

“They've got a good club, we know that,” Servais said. “You've got to execute your pitches. You've got to keep it close, and then hopefully you get some big hits late.”

As for those, the biggest at-bat of the night was the 12-pitch sequence between Orioles reliever Albert Suárez and Ty France, who overcame an 0-2 count to rip a game-tying double in the seventh. It was Seattle’s longest plate appearance of the season and tied for the third-longest of France’s career.

There was also retribution of sorts, as the ball landed just beyond the glove of outstretched Cedric Mullins, who tormented the Mariners with a performance for the ages last August in Seattle, headlined with a ninth-inning home-run robbery of -- guess who -- France.

“Flashbacks,” France said on Saturday. “Right away.”

The Mariners were overpowered by Baltimore from the first inning of the series opener until finally breaking through against Grayson Rodriguez in the sixth on Saturday, weathering a three-hour rain delay, too. It took a while, and things looked bleak -- yet it ended with one of their more satisfying victories of the season.