The Orioles 12 extra-inning wins are the most in the majors, and this one came after they scraped back from an early five-run deficit. Baltimore (59-51) improved to 23-6 in one-run games. Eighteen of its last 31 games have been decided by three or fewer runs.
The win, combined with the Yankees’ 6-5 loss to Detroit, put the Orioles just 41
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2 games back of the Yankees in the American League East, marking the first time Baltimore has been less than five games behind the division leaders since they were four games back June 29.
Jones’s game-winning hit came after Omar Quintanilla reached on a questionable call when first base umpire Brian Knight ruled that Seattle first baseman Mike Carp’s foot came off the bag taking a throw from second on a grounder. Mariners Manager Eric Wedge was ejected from the game for arguing the call.
Nick Markakis singled to center, and J.J. Hardy’s sacrifice bunt moved both baserunners into scoring position. Shawn Kelley intentionally walked Chris Davis to load the based to create a double-play opportunity.
But that’s when Jones, who has been the poster boy for the Orioles’ late-inning heroics, laced a 1-2 pitch to right, falling just in front of a sliding Casper Wells to drive in the winning run.
After falling behind by five runs after two innings, the Orioles rallied to tie the game at 7 in the seventh on Hardy’s three-run homer off reliever Lucas Luetge.
Matt Wieters played a big part in helping the Orioles peck away at a large Seattle lead with two solo homers off starter Blake Beavan, both to straightaway center field. It was Wieters’s third career two-homer game and second this season.
Hardy’s 16th homer of the season — which brought the announced crowd of 15,433 at Camden Yards of its feet — capped a four-run seventh inning.
Quintanilla’s seeing-eye single up the middle scored Mark Reynolds, who opened that inning with a leadoff double. Markakis’s third hit of the night, a bloop single to left, put two on for Hardy, who took a 0-1 sinker from Luetge into the left-field stands. Nine of Hardy’s 16 homers have either tied the score or given the Orioles the lead.
The Orioles’ starting pitching had been spectacular over the previous four games, allowing just three total runs in that span, but left hander Zach Britton continued to struggle Tuesday.
The Orioles bullpen picked up Britton, with six different relievers combining for nine scoreless innings, including two scoreless innings each from Matt Lindstrom and Darren O’Day.
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