BALTIMORE — Coming off a bitter sweep by their rivals in the AL West, the Seattle Mariners got back in their comfort zone with another solid win on the road.
Nelson Cruz homered and drove in five runs, Kyle Seager hit a three-run drive and Seattle cruised past the Baltimore Orioles 10-0 Tuesday night.
Robinson Cano had three hits, two RBIs and scored three runs for the Mariners, who repeatedly circled the bases on a wet, chilly night at Camden Yards.
These Mariners seem to do their best work outside of Seattle. After losing three straight against the visiting Los Angeles Angels, the Mariners bounced back in Baltimore to improve their AL-best road record to 14-6.
“It was good to get the road trip off to a great start,” said Seager, whose eighth home run made it 7-0 in the fifth inning.
Wade Miley (4-2) allowed two hits and walked three in six sharp innings. The left-hander was 0-2 with a 10.13 ERA in his three previous starts against Baltimore.
“Any time you get runs like that, you just want to make sure you go out there and get the guys back in the dugout and let them keep swinging,” Miley said. “I was trying to get ahead and go from there.”
Baltimore starter Ubaldo Jimenez (2-4) allowed six runs and five hits in 4 1/3 innings, his shortest outing in 21 starts since last July.
“It’s disappointing,” the right-hander said. “As a starting pitcher you want to get deeper and give your team a chance to win. But it’s just part of the game.”
The Orioles managed only two hits in their most lopsided loss of the season. The defeat came on the heels of a stretch in which they won seven of eight.
Cruz and Cano have made a living off Baltimore pitching, and this game was no exception. Cruz has reached base in 43 of 46 career games against the Orioles, including 41 with at least one hit. Cano upped his lifetime batting average at Camden Yards to .367 over 83 games.
Cano doubled and scored in the first inning, scored ahead of Seager’s homer in the fifth and doubled before Cruz’s home run in the sixth.
“Robbie was locked in,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “It was nice to jump on Jimenez in that first inning. It kind of gets us going on the road trip and everything else. Seager had the big home run as well. It was a well-played game by us.”
Cruz hit a two-run single in the first and a three-run shot in the sixth off Brian Matusz.
And just like that, the Mariners turned the page from their disappointing series against the Angels.
“We lost those games that we had a chance to win,” Cruz said. “We got off to a positive start.”
The Mariners had their way against Jimenez, who left in the fifth with two runners on. Seager greeted Matusz with a home run on an 0-2 pitch.
Matusz has a 12.00 ERA since coming off the disabled list on April 23.
“It’s not a good feeling,” he said. “I have been there before — had struggles — and fortunately in the past have been able to get through that. And I’m kind of in the situation where that’s what I’m going to have to do now.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mariners: LHP Charlie Furbush (shoulder) will throw live batting practice Thursday for Triple-A Tacoma. From there, he will travel to the team’s minor league facility in Arizona to build his pitch count in extended spring training.
Orioles: RHP Yovani Gallardo (shoulder tendinitis) will throw 120 pitches on flat ground Wednesday. If all goes well, he will throw off a mound on Sunday.
UP NEXT
Mariners: Taijuan Walker (2-2, 2.63 ERA) starts in the middle game of the series. The right-hander is coming off a nine-strikeout performance against Tampa Bay.
Orioles: Chris Tillman (5-1, 2.58) tries to win his fifth straight start. He’s 6-0 lifetime against Seattle, the team that drafted him in 2006.
