Baltimore, MD (Sports Network) - Steve Johnson struck out nine over six
innings in his first major league start, and Baltimore completed a three-game
sweep of the Seattle Mariners with a 9-2 victory Wednesday night.
Matt Wieters knocked in five runs, and Mark Reynolds and Nick Markakis homered
for the playoff-contending Orioles, who equaled a season-best with their fifth
straight win.
Johnson (1-0) allowed five hits, including a two-run homer to Kyle Seager in
the sixth. The 24-year-old right-hander walked two and was removed after
throwing 97 pitches, 67 for strikes.
Johnson started 23 years to the day that his father, Dave, picked up his first
big league triumph with the Orioles, beating the Minnesota Twins. On July 15,
when Steve made his major league debut, the pair became the sixth father-son
tandem to play for the Orioles.
Kevin Millwood (4-10) was tagged for eight hits and seven runs over four
innings and faltered to 1-6 over his last 13 starts.
Seager had three hits, but the Mariners lost their fourth in a row.
J.J. Hardy singled and Chris Davis walked, both with one out in the home
first. With two outs, Wieters sent a line drive to right field, and the ball
went in and out of the glove of a leaping Eric Thames, resulting in a 2-0
lead.
Markakis tripled to lead off the third and scored on Hardy's singled under the
glove of Seager at third. Hardy scored later in the frame on a Wieters
groundout, just after a double from Adam Jones.
Reynolds and Markakis homered in a span of three batters in the fourth.
Reynolds ended a 74 at-bat drought without a long ball by launching his homer
over the wall in right-center. After Omar Quintanilla singled, Markakis went
deep to right for a 7-0 cushion.
Wieters completed his big night with a two-run double to right-center off Josh
Kinney in the seventh.
GAME NOTES:
Prior to the game, the Orioles placed infielder Ryan Flaherty on the 15-day
disabled list, and recalled Johnson and reliever Miguel Socolovich from
Triple-A Norfolk. Socolovich escaped a bases-loaded jam in the eighth
inning and also pitched the ninth...Millwood fell to 9-4 lifetime against
the Orioles. He pitched for the Orioles in 2010, going 4-16...The Orioles have
won six straight at home against the Mariners...Wieters has three 5-RBI games
this season...Troy Patton, who pitched a scoreless seventh for Baltimore, has
a 16-game scoreless streak.
The Sports Network