Orioles stay hot, beat Mariners, 5-1, behind Tomoyuki Sugano, Colton Cowser

Matt Weyrich, The Baltimore Sun on Jun 4, 2025

Published in Baseball

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SEATTLE — The Milkman returned. And he delivers.

Colton Cowser hit a home run in his first game in over two months to help the Orioles beat the Mariners, 5-1, on Tuesday night for their four straight victory.

Tomoyuki Sugano outdueled Seattle right-hander George Kirby, who left the game after being hit in the face by a comebacker in the fifth inning, and four hitters had multi-hit games, propelling Baltimore (23-36) to its longest winning streak in just over 11 months.

Strong starting pitching and just enough offense has been the Orioles’ formula for success of late and they squeezed a little more out of the bottle Tuesday, highlighted by Cowser’s sixth-inning blast and a ninth-inning rally that put the game out of reach.

Kirby was likely facing his final batter when third baseman Ramón Urías lined a 102.7 mph comebacker right up the middle, catching him in the hand and deflecting off his jaw. The inning ended on the play and he retreated to the clubhouse with blood on his chin. Mariners manager Dan Wilson then replaced him with right-hander Eduard Bazardo, who briefly pitched for the Orioles in 2023, to set up Cowser, who took him 374 feet to left field.

Looking for the Orioles rotation’s fourth consecutive quality start, Sugano wriggled his way out of a couple of jams but worked efficiently enough to complete seven on just 90 pitches. The right-hander, whose ERA dropped 3.04 with the effort, allowed one run on five hits and a walk with five strikeouts. Mariners first baseman Rowdy Tellez tattooed a 404-foot homer in the second for the only damage against him.

He saved his most impressive inning for last, retiring the side in order with swinging strikeouts of outfielders Randy Arozarena and Leody Taveras. The biggest driver behind his success, however, was weak contact. Sugano induced nine groundouts, including two double plays.

The Orioles gave him an early lead to work with in the first when they loaded the bases on three straight singles to set up Urías, who was celebrating his 31st birthday, with a sacrifice fly. They tacked on another run off Kirby in the fifth when Ryan O’Hearn came through with a two-out RBI single that broke the 1-1 tie for good.

Interim manager Tony Mansolino pulled Sugano after the seventh in favor of Bryan Baker, who put runners on the corners with one out but battled back to get designated hitter Jorge Polanco to pop out in foul territory before striking center fielder Julio Rodríguez swinging to keep it a 3-1 game. Baker, who converted his first save of the season Sunday, has a 2.67 ERA.

Baltimore then rallied for two runs in the ninth against Mariners right-hander Collin Snider, stringing together four hits by Coby Mayo, Heston Kjerstad (RBI double), Jackson Holliday (RBI single) and Adley Rutschman. Kjerstad had two hits and a walk while Rutschman put together his first three-hit day since May 16.

On deck

The Orioles will look to win back-to-back series for the first time this season Wednesday when a pair of young arms take the mound in Baltimore left-hander Cade Povich and Seattle righty Emerson Hancock. Povich had an up-and-down May with a 5.48 ERA in four starts while Hancock has strung together three straight starts of three runs allowed or fewer.

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