Mallex a catalyst as Mariners' offense erupts

SEATTLE -- It won’t go down as the Mariners’ prettiest win, but it was a win, nonetheless, on Friday night as Seattle handed the Orioles their 10th straight loss in a 10-9 shootout at T-Mobile Park.

The Mariners launched three home runs -- by Dylan Moore, Kyle Seager and Mac Williamson -- and racked up 13 hits and eight walks off five Orioles pitchers. Williamson’s fifth-inning bolt to center was projected at 444 feet, making it the second-longest Statcast recorded homer of the year for Seattle behind only a 448-footer by Daniel Vogelbach in Anaheim on June 9.

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The top of Seattle’s order did significant damage, as Mallex Smith, J.P. Crawford and Domingo Santana combined to go 7-for-10 with five RBIs, five runs scored, five walks and two stolen bases.

Smith went 3-for-3 with a double, two walks and a pair of stolen bases. After a rough start to the season, the speedy center fielder has hiked his average from .191 to .230 over the past three weeks and moved into second in the Majors with 21 steals.

“A table-setter, that’s what I’m here to do,” Smith said. “Set the tone, get my team going and after that, let them do what they’ve got to do.”

Smith joins Ichiro Suzuki (2011), Willie Bloomquist (‘02) and Mark McLemore (‘01) as the only Mariners to reach base safely five times, score three-plus runs and steal two or more bases in a game.

“Since we got into June, Mallex has kind of been the Mallex Smith we were expecting, which is great to see,” said Mariners manager Scott Servais.

Crawford was equally potent in the No. 2 spot as he went 3-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs. The 24-year-old has hit .300 in eight games since returning from a sprained left ankle.

“Mallex got us started from the get-go,” Crawford said. “He gets on and it gives a fire to the whole lineup. It makes you want to drive him in. He gets things going and kept it going and it was just on the whole night.”

It all was enough to make a winner out of veteran right-hander Mike Leake, who lasted just long enough to pick up his fourth straight victory and the 100th win of his career, despite allowing 11 hits and eight runs (seven earned) over 5 1/3 innings.

Leake (7-6, 4.54 ERA) spotted the Orioles a three-run advantage in the first, then settled in and had a 10-3 lead until Baltimore tallied five times in the sixth.

The Mariners have won three straight for the first time since April 18-20 against the Angels when they were 16-8 and sitting in first place in the American League West. They’ve since gone 18-38 and dropped to the bottom of the division, but are 9-7 over their last 16 games and still have two left this weekend against the Orioles, who have the worst record in MLB at 21-55.

“It was a crazy game,” Servais said. “You have to give Baltimore a lot of credit. They’ve been struggling a little bit, but they certainly did not quit tonight. They put it on us, making contact, they found some holes on ground balls with Mike Leake out there and you look up and they’re right back in the ballgame.”

What a relief, at last

While it was a tough day for pitching, the Mariners’ oft-maligned bullpen stepped up with a stellar performance as Cory Gearrin wiggled out of a bases-loaded jam he inherited from Leake in the sixth, Austin Adams struck out four in two scoreless frames and Roenis Elias racked up his ninth save with a 1-2-3 ninth.

“Our bullpen has had some rough times, we’ve had a lot of turnover in our bullpen, but the guys stepped up tonight,” Servais said.

Elias has quietly adopted the closer’s role in what had been a revolving-door situation and picked up four saves in his last six outings without allowing a hit over six innings, with two walks and seven strikeouts.

“Elias has back on a nice roll again finishing games off,” Servais said. “It was a big night for our bullpen and they need those nights. We needed to lean on them heavily tonight.”