It was Saunders over Britton as Mariners take series opener

After giving up just one run in each of his last two Triple-A starts, Zach Britton gave up one on his second pitch tonight. His evening never got too much better, as the Orioles lost 6-2 to Seattle in the opener of a three-game series. Former Oriole Joe Saunders got the win tonight, pitching a complete-game four-hitter. Michael Saunders hit a belt-high fastball out for a 1-0 lead off Britton, who gave up 10 hits and six runs over six innings. He walked two and fanned two and threw 101 pitches in his O's 2013 season debut. Now we'll see if he gets another start the next time his turn comes up in the rotation. Matt Wieters' fourth homer of the year - a two-run shot in the fourth - gave the O's a brief 2-1 lead and snapped a 4-for-27 stretch for the O's catcher. But Seattle got two runs back in the bottom of the inning, as Britton needed 34 pitches to get three outs. Seattle's Jason Bay went 3-for-4 with an RBI and Saunders added two RBIs. Joe Saunders, who was with the Orioles last year and was on the mound for two big O's playoff wins in October, needed 105 pitches for his eighth career complete game. He is now 2-3 with a 5.25 ERA on the year. He wins tonight after pitching to an ERA of 13.96 over his past two starts. In his career at Safeco Field he is 8-0 with a 1.17 ERA in 12 starts. After batting .349 with runners in scoring position in the Oakland series and .370 with RISP the last 11 games, the Orioles didn't have a single runner even get into scoring position tonight. The Orioles have lost back-to-back games for the first time since losing three in a row April 6-8. They fall to 3-2 on this road trip and 15-11 overall. The loss ended the Orioles' eight-game winning streak against Seattle and their five-game win streak at Safeco Field.