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Wednesday, May 24 7:05pm ET
Error opens door for O's to win in 9th | |||||
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GAME LOG
BALTIMORE (AP) -- It was hardly a work of art, and it didn't matter one bit to the Baltimore Orioles. Delino DeShields scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning on an error by second baseman Mark McLemore, giving Baltimore a 4-3 win over the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday night. It was the second straight ninth-inning victory for the Orioles, who hadn't won two in a row since April 28-29. "I would have rather have gotten a hit, but we'll take it," Surhoff said. "When we look back at this at the end of the year, it will be a win. It won't have an asterisk and it won't say an error lost the game." Baltimore had lost 15 of 17 before taking two straight from the Mariners, assuring the Orioles their first series win since April. Baltimore will vie for a three-game sweep Thursday night. Edgar Martinez doubled, homered and drove in all e runs for the Mariners, who blew a 3-0 lead. Martinez has nine homers and 28 RBI in 20 games this month. Cal Ripken, who won Tuesday's game with a ninth-inning homer, drew a leadoff walk in the ninth from Kazuhiro Sasaki (1-3) and DeShields ran for him. Former-Oriole Arthur Rhodes then walked Will Clark, sending DeShields to second. After Charles Johnson struck out, B.J. Surhoff hit a grounder that bounced under the glove of McLemore, and DeShields scored without a throw. "I took a chance on the double play and I missed the ball. I was close enough to it as I needed to be," McLemore said. "B.J.'s coming out of the box on the swing and he can run pretty good and ... I just blew it." The Mariners, like the Orioles, have been plagued by close losses this season. It was the ninth time Seattle has lost on the opponent's final at-bat. "You saw it. What do you want me to say?" Mariners manager Lou Piniella said of the final play. "He tried to be too quick on it." Buddy Groom (3-2) struck out the side in the ninth, only the 13th time in 41 games that the Baltimore bullpen has not surrendered at least one run. Seattle starter John Halama, seeking to go 6-0, allowed three runs and eight hits in seven innings. He threw a season-high 97 pitches. He was matched by Sidney Ponson, who allowed three runs and seven hits in eight innings. Ponson is winless in six starts since April 21, but his performance was instrumental to the victory. "He did his job," Baltimore manager Mike Hargrove said. "He stayed in control and was very aggressive. I thought he was outstanding." A single by McLemore and a double by Martinez put Seattle up 1-0 in the first inning. In the fourth, John Olerud drew a leadoff walk and Martinez followed with his 14th homer, a shot into the left-field seats. That, however, was the extent of the Seattle offense. Baltimore scored three runs in the bottom half, tying it on RBI singles by Ripken and Johnson followed by Surhoff's run-scoring grounder. Stan Javier and Tom Lampkin hit singles to open Seattle's seventh, but Ponson struck out David Bell and Rickey Henderson before retiring McLemore on a popup. Game notesRipken has 1,600 RBI. ... Seattle has outscored the opposition 42-25 in the first inning, including 13-2 over the past eight games. ... Surhoff went 0-for-4 and is 4-for-45 in his last 13 games. ... Martinez is 6-for-10 against Ponson. ... Mike Bordick, who came in 6-for-7 against Halama, went 0-for-3 and hit into two double plays against the left-hander. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Seattle Clubhouse Baltimore Clubhouse RECAPS Baltimore 4 Seattle 3
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