A marathon victory: O's beat Mariners in 18 innings to gain tie for first place

Well that was just an amazing and exhausting and, yes, very important Orioles win. In a game that ended at 3:54 a.m. EST, the Orioles beat the Mariners 4-2 in 18 innings. With the win, the Orioles improved to 84-64 and moved into a first-place tie with the Yankees and within a half-game of Oakland for the top AL wild card spot. In the top of the 18th, Nate McLouth led off with a walk and moved to third on a hit-and-run single by J.J. Hardy. The O's moved ahead 3-2 when pinch-hitter Taylor Teagarden singled to right and it became 4-2 on a Mark Reynolds RBI groundout. Teagarden has seven hits this year, producing eight RBIs and he is now 3-for-4 when batting in extra innings with a double, homer and four RBIs. Many hours before that rally, the Orioles went to the ninth trailing 2-0 having been held to two hits by Mariners starter Erasmo Ramirez. But they tied the game on singles by Ryan Flaherty and McLouth followed by a clutch two-run single from Chris Davis. There were amazing pitching performance by several O's hurlers. There was a 3 1/3 shutout and hitless innings by Jake Arrieta. Steve Johnson threw three scoreless frames. Tommy Hunter pitched two. Time after time, Seattle put the potential winning run into scoring position, but that run never crossed the plate. Hunter got the win and Jim Johnson pitched a 1-2-3 18th to record his 44th save. By the way, this was the Orioles' 14th straight extra-innings win. The time of game was 5 hours, 44 minutes, and it was the longest game of the year for the O's by innings, one frame longer than May 6 in Boston. An exhausting night and morning of Orioles baseball ends in a crucial win, one that moves the club back into first place and keeps them three games ahead of the Angels for the second wild card spot.