Orioles rally to defeat Mariners, complete sweep (with quotes)

The hook came rather quickly today for Ubaldo Jiménez. So did the power that allowed the Orioles to recover, the letdown in the eighth and the subsequent response to it.

Manager Buck Showalter called upon his bullpen with two outs in the third inning, four runs already on the board for the Mariners and Jiménez at 54 pitches. He didn't need to see anymore.

A team can't rally for a win and extend its streak if it's giving up more runs than it scores. It says so in every book ever written about baseball.

Jonathan Schoop singled to center field on the first pitch thrown by reliever Marc Rzepczynski to score pinch-runner Caleb Joseph with the tie-breaking run, and Zach Britton notched his 13th save in the Orioles' 8-7 victory over the Mariners before an announced crowd of 16,983 at Camden Yards.

The sweep improved the Orioles' record to 68-65, the first time they've been three games above .500 since June 9. They've won a season-best seven in a row and eight of nine.

Mitch Haniger hit a two-out home run off Brad Brach in the top of the eighth to tie the game 7-7. But Welington Castillo singled in the bottom half off Christian Bergman for his career-tying fourth hit and moved to second base on Craig Gentry's sacrifice bunt. Manny Machado was walked intentionally and Schoop came through with his second RBI today and 99th on the season.

Jiménez was charged with six runs in 2 2/3 innings, but spared the loss. Miguel Castro let two inherited runners cross the plate on a bloop single, then retired seven in a row and gave the Orioles 3 1/3 shutout innings.

The Orioles hit four home runs off left-hander Ariel Miranda, with Schoop's solo shot in the fifth knotting the score at 6-6. Schoop and Machado are tied for the team lead with 30.

Trey Mancini gave the Orioles a 1-0 lead in the second inning with his 23rd, Castillo delivered a two-run shot in the fourth and Gentry followed with his first home run since April 16 in Toronto.

Going back-to-back for the 11th time this season allowed the Orioles to inch back into the game after falling behind 6-2 in the third.

Miranda has served up 35 home runs to lead the majors. The six runs today in 4 1/3 innings inflated his ERA 4.85, bashing the Orioles for trading him is a reflex.

Darren O'Day retired both batters he faced in the seventh and Brach got the first two in the eighth before Haniger's homer. Britton survived a two-out single by pinch-hitter Jean Segura.

We're left again to wonder what's next for Jiménez, whether Showalter runs him back out there after rosters expand on Friday or reverts to a five-man rotation. The other alternative is finding someone else for the sixth spot.

Castro figures to get a chance to make the rotation out of spring training, but he's pushing for an earlier audition.

The last two runs charged to Jiménez came on Mike Zunino's soft single into center field off Castro. He allowed six hits and his ERA jumped from 6.57 to 6.85 in 128 2/3 innings.

A runner was stranded in the first inning and Jiménez retired the side in order in the second on only nine pitches. The latter is noteworthy because Jiménez has allowed 22 runs in the second this season and opponents were batting .363.

Five straight batters reached with one out in the third. The Mariners loaded the bases and Nelson Cruz delivered a two-run single up the middle on a ball that deflected off the bag. Cruz was 2-for-20 lifetime against Jiménez and struck out on three pitches in the first inning.

That one can be written off to bad luck.

Robinson Canó singled, making him 11-for-22 against Jiménez. Kyle Seager struck out, but Haniger followed with a two-run double on an 0-2 pitch to stop an 0-for-19 skid.

That one can be attributed to a bad pitch.

Showalter removed Jiménez, who's allowed 17 runs and 23 hits in his last three starts over 12 innings. Today marked his second-shortest start of the year. He went 2 1/3 innings on June 23 at Tropicana Field.

The Orioles loaded the bases in the sixth on Castillo's single off Emilio Pagan, Gentry's walk and Tim Beckham's single off Phelps. Machado lined to right field to score Castillo, Schoop walked and Phelps left the game with an undisclosed injury.

Castillo continues his assault on opposing pitching. He had an RBI double in the second inning, a two-run homer in the fourth and singles in the sixth and eighth go 32-for-81 (.395) with seven home runs and 20 RBIs in his last 22 games. He's thrown out 50 percent of runners attempting to steal this season and would have nabbed another today if not for a walk that loaded the bases for Cruz.

Here are the pitching matchups for the four-game series against the Blue Jays at Camden Yards:

Thursday: Jeremy Hellickson vs. Marco Estrada
Friday: Kevin Gausman vs. Joe Biagini
Saturday: Wade Miley vs. Marcus Stroman
Sunday: Chris Tillman vs. Brett Anderson

Showalter on team rallying twice: "At this time we've been able to dial up what was needed on a given day. We're not always going to be perfect in the pitching department. That's a tough act to follow last night. But it's a hungry club getting ready to go home and have an off-day. It's really, really hard, one, to win a major league baseball game and it's really hard to win three games in a row off the same team. So, that was a challenge today, but our guys were ready."

On what he likes about club during streak: "I think we kind of know it's, 'OK, what do we need to do tonight to win?' It's been that way every night, though. But there have been different things that have been the difference-maker, so there's a lot of things that are contributing, whether it's defense or good baserunning play or good relay, throw out somebody stealing, a really well-pitched game. What's really tough, you come through the emotion of winning three games at Fenway and then come back home and there's another challenge of a team that you're trying to catch ahead of you. But it's that time of year. You can see the finish line a little bit now."

On Castillo contributing on both sides: "Hitters get hot and get in a groove. Catchers, infielders, defensively there's a little bit of that, too. Not like hitting as much, but the tempo and the pitching. He and Caleb, what do they have, 24 or 25 home runs between them? And on the defensive side of it, we don't have to think about one guy versus another. All the pitchers are comfortable throwing to both of them. That's unusual. Usually you've got a lot of back-burner stuff with ... I think the pitchers respect both of them, how much it means to them to call and catch a good game."

On removing Jiménez early: "I don't like doing that. Sometimes, you take into consideration the fact that a potential double play ball hits the bag and the other two runs we had a popup that just got in no-man's land. That's unfortunate, what the numbers will read like. I thought he was carrying decent stuff. You've got Zunino up there who's 3-for-4 off him with some damage and we had a chance there to get out of that 4-2.

"Because of the job Dylan did last night, we knew we were in a really good spot with the bullpen. But I thought he ran into some bad luck today, too. He jammed Cruz and had a potential double play. I think we would have turned two there, it would have been close. Usually, when guys get jammed there they don't get out of the box too well. That was unfortunate. I feel bad taking a guy out that early, but we were in a little different situation, especially with some of our guys rested out there."

On whether Castro should start: "We know, but it's one of those things, you take him out and who's going to fill his shoes? That's been an important role for us, but certainly everybody in the back of their minds, you see a pitcher with three pitches pitch extended innings, you certainly consider that and I'm sure you understand that we have."

On whether he's been waiting for this type of streak: "I don't know about me. I think we have. I think the players have. They know. It's a very mature group and they've been through these battles in August and September. This is a battle-tested team and I think they realize what has to happen for us to get an opportunity to roll the dice in October. And there's a lot of bridges to cross, obviously. "We're still not where we need to be."

On whether he's starting to look at standings: "Yeah, day before yesterday. First time in a long time. I could tell you a fib, but I did. I did, I did, I did."

On confidence that out call on Joseph would be overturned: "In the eighth inning where you're not losing a whole lot, we were probably going to challenge it if it was 50-50. John (Russell) and our people up there, the only time they've been wrong is when we think that New York might be wrong, for the most part. John was 100 percent sure it was going to be overturned. It was a pretty short look."