SEATTLE_The Seattle Mariners were not subtle in victory. This was not that kind of game. This instead was about one thing: power.
And the Mariners had plenty of it in their 5-2 victory Friday night against the first-place Baltimore Orioles.
All five of the Mariners' runs came by way of home runs. Seth Smith hit a solo shot in the first inning. Kyle Seager hit the go-ahead two-run homer in the sixth inning. And Dae-Ho Lee provided the finale on fireworks night with a two-run blast in the eighth inning.
The Mariners now have won five of their past seven games after losing six in a row.
The Mariners had scattered hits and base runners through five innings, but all they had to show for it was Smith's solo home run. That changed quickly with one swing from Seager, who hit his 16th home run of the year.
That Seager's blast in the sixth inning was enough was made possible by two things.
First, the outing from starting pitcher Wade LeBlanc. In his second start for the Mariners_and his second start since the end of the 2014 season_Le�Blanc was nearly as crisp as he was the first time around.
He allowed only three hits and two runs against the Orioles. He struck out five and walked only one. He was in control and avoided danger all but twice: Once when he gave up a solo home run to Chris Davis in the second inning and once when he gave up a two-out single that scored another run in the third.
In his two starts, LeBlanc has allowed six hits and two runs in 12 innings.
The second thing was the combined outing from the bullpen.
Mike Montgomery pitched a scoreless seventh inning, hard-throwing rookie Edwin Diaz struck out the side in the eighth inning and Steve Cishek closed out the ninth inning.
Diaz pitched consecutive days for just the second time in his very brief career, and he was electric in the eighth inning. He has struck out at least two hitters in each of his past four outings.
Dae-Ho Lee's home run in the eighth inning was his first since June 10, a stretch of 16 games. It was his 11th home run this season and gave the Mariners a 5-2 lead.
It turned out to be more than the Mariners needed.
