Adam Jones trade still haunts M’s as he leads Orioles to victory

SEATTLE — Adam Jones. For the Mariners, he will always be the mistake that keeps on haunting.

You know the story. Jones was the Mariners’ first-round pick in 2003 and viewed as a likely franchise cornerstone for years to come – until a Feb. 8, 2008 trade sent him to Baltimore.

Jones became everything the Mariners once envisioned, except in a different uniform. A five-time All-Star. And they got to see it up close again Monday night in a 3-2 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.

It wasn’t just Jones.

The Mariners stacked their lineup with right-handers against Orioles lefty Wei-Yin Chen and came up empty beyond Franklin Gutierrez’s leadoff homer in the second inning.

Chen (6-6) gave up just two other hits in his 7 1/3 innings before Zach Britton recorded the final five outs for his 28th save. Britton gave up one run in the ninth but is perfect in his last 24 save opportunities.

But Jones was in the middle of things. His two-out homer in the first inning opened the scoring, and his one-out double in the fourth led to the go-ahead run after Gutierrez’s game-tying homer.

Mariners lefty Vidal Nuno, in his second spot start, gave up two runs in five innings pretty much because he couldn’t solve Jones.

Mayckol Guaipe retired Jones on a grounder to short to start the sixth – and then served up a first-pitch homer to Chris Davis, a 418-foot howitzer shell to center.

The Orioles led 3-1.

Jones crushed a 1-1 slider from Nuno (0-1) for a 413-foot homer to center with two outs in the first inning.

Gutierrez led off the second with the high drive to left the clawed its way over the wall for a game-tying blast. Nuno retired eight in a row after Jones’ homer before yielding a one-out double, to Jones, in the fourth. Davis followed with an RBI single through the right side, and Baltimore led 2-1.

Cruz opened the M’s fourth with a single through the right side, which extended his hitting streak to a career-high 20 games.

Cruz saved a run in the Orioles’ fifth after Manny Machado’s two-out double into the left-center. Parra then hit a liner to right, but Cruz retreated and made a leaping catch.