BALTIMORE 3 SEATTLE 1
All it takes is a trip to Camden Yards, it seems, to have the Erik Bedard trade rubbed in the Mariners' faces yet again.
Last year, it was Chris Tillman pitching a gem, supported by a two-run Adam Jones triple, in an Orioles victory.
And Monday night, it was Tillman again, with more help from another offshoot of the ill-fated trade, Mark Reynolds, helping to lead the Orioles past the Mariners, 3-1.
Tillman, acquired along with Jones and pitchers George Sherrill, Kam Mickolio and Tony Butler in the February 2008 trade that sent Bedard to Seattle, beat the Mariners for the third time in three starts against his former organization.
This was another strong effort. Tillman gave up just one run on five hits in 7 1 innings, /3 walking one and striking out five. He has an 0.83 earned-run average in the three games (including a victory at Safeco Field earlier this year in which he didn't give up any earned runs in 8 1 innings /3 and earned the victory with support from a Jones homer).
Monday, the Mariners didn't get their first hit off Tillman until one out in the fifth, when Mike Carp - who missed batting practice because of his late arrival from a flight back from California where he had gone to see his new baby girl - grounded an opposite-field single to left against the Orioles' shift.
But he didn't get any farther, and the M's squandered a scoring opportunity in the sixth after Munenori Kawasaki led off with a bunt single and moved to second on an overthrow. Kawasaki got to third with one out but the Mariners couldn't get him home.
They finally broke through in the eighth, when Eric Thames led off with a double and came home on Kawasaki's single, ending a streak of 28 consecutive scoreless innings by Orioles pitchers. But Kawasaki was thrown out trying to advance to second when the throw home was cut off, and the Mariners' rally got no further.
Meanwhile, Jason Vargas faltered in just one inning, but it did him in as his streak of five consecutive victories came to an end. The Orioles scored all of their runs in the second off Vargas, the American League's Pitcher of the Month in July.
Lew Ford - who last week had his first major-league hit since 2007 - led off with a broken-bat single. He scored on a double to left-center by Reynolds, who had three hits in the game.
As the Orioles gleefully pointed out in their pregame notes, in a section captioned "The Gift That Keeps on Giving," Reynolds came to the Orioles in a trade with Arizona - for Mickolio.
The big blow, though, came with two outs in the second, when Nick Markakis, on a 1-2 pitch, drilled a two-run homer to right. It was the 26th longball off Vargas, tied for most in the American League, but the first he's given up in four starts.
In all, Vargas worked eight innings, giving up eight hits and no walks, striking out three.
For Baltimore, Jim Johnson worked the ninth for his leagueleading 33rd save, despite giving up two infield singles. Eric Thames hit into a force to end it.
