Mariners one-up Orioles

SEATTLE – The Seattle Mariners haven’t exactly entered no-deficit-too-big territory, but they certainly aren’t flinching when they fall behind by a few runs.

It happened again Tuesday night at Safeco Field, where the Mariners trailed the Baltimore Orioles by three runs after six innings, then clawed back for a 5-4 victory.

The Mariners scored four runs in the seventh, tying the score on Yuniesky Betancourt’s RBI single and pulling ahead when Ichiro Suzuki doubled to score Ben Broussard.

The Mariners have won four straight games and nine of 12, including the last two when they’ve had to rally late to win. All that success hasn’t gained the M’s an inch in the standings, where they trail the Angels by the same amount – 5 1/2 games– they did on May 22 when this run of success began.

The Mariners trailed the Orioles 4-1 in the seventh, having never figured out Orioles starter Brian Burres. The left-hander from Clackamas, Ore., held the M’s to one run on six hits through 5 2/3 innings.

However, like Monday night when the Mariners scored four runs in the eighth inning of a comeback victory, they did it against the Orioles’ bullpen while their own relievers kept Baltimore from adding on.

“Our bullpen has given us a real boost here this first half,” Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said. “Guys we’ve asked to do specific jobs, they’ve done them well. The whole idea of your pitching staff is to keep the game close to give your guys time to generate some offense.”

After six innings of futility, the offense got productive in the seventh. Jose Guillen started it with a single off right-hander Danys Baez, who then lost his control and walked the next two hitters, Raul Ibanez and Kenji Johjima, on eight straight pitches to load the bases.

Left-hander Jamie Walker took over, but Jose Vidro drove a sacrifice fly to deep right field, scoring Guillen and allowing Ibanez to tag and reach third.

With Ben Broussard batting, Walker threw a wild pitch that allowed Ibanez to score, making the score 4-3.

Broussard then grounded an infield single between first and second, pushing Johjima to third, and Betancourt lined a single to left that scored Johjima for a 4-4 tie. That hit was the second of the game for Betancourt, who pushed his hitting streak to 17 games.

The Orioles brought in submarine-throwing right-hander Chad Bradford, the victim in Monday night’s eighth-inning comeback by the Mariners, and they feasted on him again.

Willie Bloomquist hit a fielder’s choice grounder that forced out Betancourt at second, but Ichiro sliced a 1-1 pitch down the left-field line to score Broussard for a 5-4 lead.

And, like Monday’s victory, the Mariners’ bullpen helped save a soft performance by their starter.

Cha Seung Baek struggled with his control early as the Orioles nicked him for two runs in the first, another in the third and drove up his pitch count along the way. He lasted 5 2/3 innings, allowing nine hits and three earned runs.

Left-hander Eric O’Flaherty relieved Baek and got the final out of the sixth, although Betancourt’s throwing error allowed a run to score that gave the Orioles a 4-1 lead.

“We were down 3-0 for a long time, then it was 4-1,” Hargrove said. “That extra run looked spooky.”

O’Flaherty got the final out of the sixth and the first two in the seventh before right-hander Jason Davis took over, getting Miguel Tejada on a grounder for the third out.

J.J. Putz, perfect in 14 previous save opportunities, gave up a broken-bat leadoff single to Ramon Hernandez in the ninth, then made it 15 for 15. Putz retired the next three, including Brian Roberts and Jay Payton on strikeouts to end the game.