Paredes' HR, 4 RBIs Power Orioles Past Mariners 9-4
BALTIMORE (AP) -- Jimmy Paredes homered and had a career-high four RBIs, and the Baltimore Orioles overcame a home run by former teammate Nelson Cruz in a 9-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night.
Paredes singled in two runs in the fourth inning and added a two-run drive off Danny Farquhar (0-2) in the sixth. Starting on a regular basis for the first time in his career, Paredes has reached base in 20 straight games and ranks second on the team with 22 RBIs.
Returning to Camden Yards for the first time since signing as a free agent with Seattle in December, Cruz hit his major-league leading 16th homer with two on in the third to give the Mariners a 4-1 lead.
Cruz led the majors with 40 home runs in 2014, his only season with the Orioles. He received a warm reception and chants of "Cruuuze!" from the crowd of 19,494 before his first at-bat.
But Cruz also made an error in right field that provided Baltimore an unearned run and an 8-4 lead in the seventh.
Miguel Gonzalez (5-2) allowed four runs and struck out eight over seven innings. He retired 13 of 15 batters after yielding Cruz's home run.
After Seth Smith opened the game with a home run, the Orioles got an RBI single from Steve Pearce in the bottom half after Smith robbed Adam Jones of a home run with a leaping catch at the left-field wall.
In the third, Gonzalez walked .129-hitting Chris Taylor, Robinson Cano singled and Cruz hit a hanging curve over the center-field wall.
Baltimore tied it at 4 in the fourth when Caleb Joseph hit an RBI single and Paredes delivered a two-out, two-run single.
The Orioles went ahead for the first time in the sixth. After successive doubles by Alejandro De Aza and Joseph produced a run, Paredes drove a 3-1 pitch into the left-field seats.
TRAINERS ROOM
Mariners: OF Austin Jackson (right ankle sprain) went 1 for 4 and played center field Tuesday for Triple-A Tacoma after playing seven innings on Monday. "We would like to see him swing the bat a little better than he has been," manager Lloyd McClendon said.
Orioles: RHP Kevin Gausman (shoulder tendinitis) will pitch batting practice for Baltimore before its game at Miami on Saturday. He's been on the DL since May 8.
ON DECK
Mariners: Roenis Elias (0-1, 3.24 ERA) will start Wednesday night. Seattle is 0-4 in his four starts even though the left-hander has not allowed more than three runs in a game.
Orioles: Wei-Yin Chen (1-2, 2.53) has one win in seven starts despite limiting the opposition to a .211 batting average.
(Copyright 2015 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
