Mullins with heroics, Fujinami with a save and O's pull out another thriller in Seattle

SEATTLE – He entered the game in the last of the sixth today. The Orioles were thrilled Cedric Mullins was there - especially in the ninth and 10th this afternoon at Seattle.

Mullins made a remarkable catch to rob a homer in the ninth and then hit the go-ahead two-run homer in the 10th as the Orioles beat Seattle 5-3 in 10 innings front of 44,818 at T-Mobile Park.

The O's (73-45) won a series from a club that had an eight-game win streak after Friday's series-opening win. They found a way against the top ERA club in the American League and they expanded their American League East lead to three games over Tampa Bay.

Adley Rutschman’s grounder to the first base side of the side of the mound scored speedy pinch-runner Jorge Mateo from third base as the O’s broke a 2-2 tie in the ninth and led 3-2.

Immediately after Mullins made what at the time appeared to be a game-saving robbery of a Ty France drive to deep center in the ninth inning for the second out, Dominic Canzone homered to right off Mike Baumann to tie the contest 3-3.

It was a gut punch with the Orioles one out away from victory.

But Mullins had more heroics in store an inning later.

Mullins, batting second in the 10^th with Gunnar Henderson the placed runner at second base, drove Trent Thornton’s 2-1 pitch with plenty of distance, but just foul down the right field line. Two pitches later, Mullins made sure it stayed fair, driving it to the seats in right to put the Orioles up 5-3.

It was a remarkable two innings for the O's center fielder.

“Catch of the year," said manager Brandon Hyde. "When he came down and pumped his fist, that was an amazing feeling in our dugout. Gave up a homer and then he comes up. He didn’t start the game, he finished it. That was amazing. I was trying to give him a break today and he ended up winning the game for us."

Said Mullins: “I knew I had a good jump on it. Just a matter of the timing. To come up with a catch in that big moment was huge.

“As a team, it has just been finding a way. Finding a way to win. Whether it’s with our speed, Mateo being able to get in there right when we need him. Amazing slide by him."

Shintaro Fujinami came on to pitch the home 10^th with Sam Haggerty placed at second for the Mariners. Fujinami fell behind 3-0 before recovering to strike out Dylan Moore. He uncorked a wild pitch to pinch-hitter Mike Ford to send Haggerty to third, but then got Ford to fly out to shallow left. Julio Rodríguez grounded to short to end it in a 5-3 Orioles victory.

It was Fujinami's first save in either Japan or the majors.

“Great for him, great for us," said Hyde. "It we can get him over the plate, it’s a huge weapon for us. He had a few days off. He’s got unbelievable stuff and we’ve seen that. Everybody talks about me giving him soft landings all the time, we haven’t had a whole lot of opportunities. Today was definitely not one and he came through."

Against reliever Andrés Muñoz in a 2-2 tie in the ninth, Jordan Westburg doubled with one out and James McCann walked. Then a balk was called against Muñoz, advancing both runners to scoring position. Westburg is fast, but Mateo is faster, and he pinch-ran. That would make a difference as the Rutschman grounder led to a close play at the plate.

Mateo beat the throw home by inches, confirmed by replay.

After the teams played nine scoreless innings last night, and the game’s only run was not scored until the 10^th, today each team scored once in the third inning.

Against righty Bryce Miller, McCann reached on a throwing error by shortstop Moore. He moved to third on a single to right by Rutschman and scored on Henderson’s line drive sac fly to left. Henderson’s 52^nd RBI gave the O’s a 1-0 lead.

Seattle’s Eugenio Suárez singled to left center to tie it 1-1 in the home half of the third. It scored No. 9 hitter Josh Rojas, who walked with one out and moved up to second on a groundout.

The Mariners took a 2-1 lead in the last of the fifth with a two-out rally against righty Kyle Bradish. Rojas singled and scored on Rodríguez's RBI double to left. Rodriguez hit a Bradish 1-1 slider into the left-field corner to put Seattle ahead.

The O’s tied it 2-2 in their half of the sixth inning. Ryan Mountcastle reached on his second infield hit of the day. He moved up on Adam Frazier’s bunt and scored on an Austin Hays line drive single to left-center. On Hays’ 45^th RBI the O’s got even in this ballgame.

Bradish allowed two runs and five hits on 90 pitches in six innings. It was his 12th quality start and the team's 48th. The Orioles are 37-11 in those games.

The Birds have won seven of 10, 10 of 14 and 24 of their past 34 games. They are 37-18 (.673) in games decided by one and two runs. 

Now 2-1 on this West Coast trip, the Orioles play three games at San Diego beginning Monday night.