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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Jackson lifts Mariners to 6-5 walk-off victory over Orioles in 10 innings

Nelson Cruz shatters his bat on fly ball in fifth. Cruz hit a home run in first inning, but later left the game with neck spasms. (Associated Press)
Bob Dutton Tacoma News Tribune

SEATTLE – OK, somehow it turned out well. The Mariners rescued themselves Tuesday night from their increasingly combustible bullpen by pulling out a 6-5 victory over the Baltimore Orioles in 10 innings.

Austin Jackson provided the walk-off victory by shooting a grounder through the right side of the infield with the bases loaded.

It shouldn’t have been this hard.

The Mariners were five outs from victory with a 5-2 lead before Tom Wilhelmsen and Joe Beimel gave up back-to-back homers in the eighth inning.

That snatched a victory away from Taijuan Walker, who recovered from a rough start by pitching through the sixth inning.

Logan Morrison started the winning rally with a bloop double that fell just fair inside the left-field line against lefty reliever T.J. McFarland (0-2).

Brad Miller then hopped a single through the left side of the infield that moved Morrison to third and forced the Orioles to shorten their infield and outfield for a possible play at the plate.

Mike Zunino drew a walk that loaded the bases with no outs.

Jackson’s single ended it.

Fernando Rodney (5-4) got the victory after pitching a scoreless 10th inning.

Walker recovered from a long two-run first inning by pitching through the sixth with no further damage. He gave up two runs and five hits while walking one and striking out six in a no-decision.

Walker is 7-2 with a 3.33 ERA over his last 14 starts.

Wilhelmsen inherited a three-run lead and breezed through the seventh inning and retired the first batter in the eighth before walking Gerardo Parra.

Adam Jones then crushed a 2-1 fastball in the middle of the plate for a no-doubt homer to left. The lead was down to 5-4.

Beimel replaced Wilhelmsen and gave up a game-tying homer to Chris Davis.

Carson Smith replaced Beimel and retired the next two hitters.

The M’s battered long-time tormentor Chris Tillman, their former farmhand, for five runs and eight hits in 2 1/3 innings. He was 6-0 with a 2.09 ERA in seven previous starts against Seattle.

Cruz started a four-run first inning with a two-out homer. It extended his career-high hitting streak to 21 games and gave him the major-league lead with 34 homers.

Robinson Cano and Seth Smith followed Cruz’s homer with singles before Mark Trumbo rocked a three-run homer. The Mariners led 4-2.

Baltimore AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
M.Machado 3b 5 0 1 0 0 3 .300
G.Parra rf 4 1 1 0 1 1 .214
A.Jones cf 5 2 1 2 0 1 .280
C.Davis 1b 4 2 2 1 1 1 .254
Wieters c 2 0 1 0 0 0 .278
Joseph c 2 0 0 0 0 0 .252
Schoop 2b 4 0 1 2 0 1 .302
Paredes dh 3 0 0 0 1 1 .276
J.Hardy ss 3 0 0 0 0 0 .233
Reimold lf 4 0 0 0 0 2 .226
Totals 36 5 7 5 3 10
Seattle AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
A.Jackson cf 6 0 2 1 0 2 .249
Seager 3b 3 0 0 1 1 1 .263
N.Cruz rf 3 1 1 1 0 1 .324
K.Marte ss 1 0 0 0 0 1 .235
Gutierrez ph-lf 1 0 0 0 0 0 .306
Cano 2b 4 1 3 0 1 0 .268
S.Smith lf-rf 4 1 2 0 0 0 .256
J.Montero ph-1b 1 0 0 0 0 0 .289
Trumbo dh 4 1 1 3 1 0 .239
Morrison 1b-rf 5 1 1 0 0 2 .220
B.Miller ss-lf-ss 4 1 3 0 1 0 .253
Zunino c 3 0 0 0 1 2 .168
Totals 39 6 13 6 5 9
Baltimore 200 000 030 0—5 7 2
Seattle 410 000 000 1—6 13 0

E—J.Hardy (3), M.Machado (14). LOB—Baltimore 5, Seattle 13. 2B—G.Parra (2), Morrison (10), B.Miller (18). HR—A.Jones (19), C.Davis (31), N.Cruz (34), Trumbo (5). RBIs—A.Jones 2 (56), C.Davis (83), Schoop 2 (22), A.Jackson (30), Seager (45), N.Cruz (70), Trumbo 3 (19). CS—B.Miller (2). S—J.Hardy, Zunino. SF—Seager. RLISP—Baltimore 2, Seattle 6. RMU—Trumbo.

Baltimore IP H R ER BB SO ERA
Tillman 21/3 8 5 5 0 2 4.66
Matusz 21/3 1 0 0 0 4 2.52
Givens 11/3 1 0 0 1 1 0.00
Brach 12/3 0 0 0 2 2 2.60
McFarland L,0-2 11/3 3 1 1 2 0 2.37
Seattle IP H R ER BB SO ERA
T.Walker 6 5 2 2 1 6 4.60
Wilhelmsen H,6 11/3 1 2 2 1 1 4.28
Beimel BS,2 0 1 1 1 0 0 3.16
Ca.Smith 12/3 0 0 0 1 3 2.66
Rodney W,5-4 1 0 0 0 0 0 5.21

IR-S—Matusz 2-0, Givens 1-0, McFarland 1-0. T—3:29. A—24,863 (47,574).