Orioles 5, Mariners 4
BALTIMORE -- Steve Pearce hit a grand slam in the first inning, but the Baltimore Orioles needed a tiebreaking single from J.J. Hardy in the eighth to pull out a 5-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Thursday.
Pearce's homer gave the Orioles (18-20) an early 4-0 lead, but they could not hold it as the Mariners (18-22) kept chipping away in a game that was interrupted by a 2-hour, 5-minute rain delay in the third -- plus a 12-minute rain delay at the start.
The Mariners scored a run in the second and two in the fourth and tied it on first baseman Logan Morrison's bases-loaded walk against right-hander Darren O'Day.
Baltimore answered in the bottom of the eighth against right-hander Danny Farquhar (0-3). First baseman Chris Davis led off with an infield single and went to second when Pearce grounded back to the pitcher.
Hardy, the shortstop, then lined a single to center. Davis beat the throw from center fielder Justin Ruggiano to give the Orioles a 5-4 lead.
Tommy Hunter (2-1) got the win after the right-hander escaped a bases-loaded situation with two outs in the eighth.
Left-hander Zach Britton closed it in the ninth, earning his ninth save.
The Mariners wasted a number of scoring chances, stranding 13 and going just 3-for-15 with runners in scoring position.
Baltimore loaded the bases with two outs in the first against starter J.A. Happ. Pearce came up and golfed the first pitch into the left-field seats for his first career grand slam and an early 4-0 lead.
But the Orioles could not hold it as Seattle rallied. The Mariners got a run in the second off right-hander Chris Tillman on catcher Wellington Castillo's sacrifice fly in his first at-bat with the team.
The rain delay then brought in left-hander Brian Matusz from the Baltimore bullpen in the fourth, and he ran into trouble. Matusz walked No. 9 hitter Chris Taylor -- who entered the game batting .132 -- to load the bases, and pinch hitter Rickie Weeks followed with a two-run single to left to make it 4-3.
Seattle tied the game in the seventh. The Mariners loaded the bases with no outs before right-hander Darren O'Day retired two in a row and threw two quick strikes to Morrison. After that, Morrison worked his way back from the 0-2 count to tie the game with a walk.
NOTES: Major League Baseball made a scoring change from the Orioles-Angels game on May 16, removing an error charged to Baltimore 3B Manny Machado and giving LF Matt Joyce a hit. ... C Caleb Joseph did not start for the Orioles Thursday. He was hitting .260, fourth among American League catchers. ... C Wellington Castro made his first start for the Mariners and drove in a run in his first at-bat, a sacrifice fly in the second inning. ... 3B Kyle Seager was ejected by home plate umpire John Tumpane in the fifth inning after arguing a called third strike. That was Seager's first career ejection.