BALTIMORE -- The Mariners took two Orioles runs off the board on Monday night in a game that proved to be more decided by inches than the final score would suggest.
And both runs they yanked back in a 6-3 win came via challenges that overturned their initial calls.
Backup catcher Jhonny Pereda executed maybe the most monumental ABS challenge of Seattle’s season when overturning a full-count walk to Pete Alonso that instead yielded a called strikeout for the second out in a dicey seventh inning. Matt Brash, who was on the mound with his shakiest command of the season, then settled back in and generated a groundout to Colton Cowser to get out of the crisis-brewing jam altogether.
Then in the eighth and with another threat looming, Mariners manager Dan Wilson and video and replay operations coordinator Jake Kuruc initiated a traditional challenge that eliminated a scoring tag up from Jackson Holliday to the plate. On that one, Julio Rodríguez ignited an 8-4 double play with Ryan Bliss with a 96.2 mph heave to the second baseman that nabbed speedster Blaze Alexander, who was also attempting to tag up.
Home-plate umpire Gabe Morales initially ruled that Holliday had crossed the plate just before the out at second, but a lengthy review from MLB’s headquarters in New York overturned the call.
The Mariners wound up winning by three runs, so it might seem that the successful challenges were mostly moot -- or would’ve instead led to a much closer game. But the one from Pereda, in particular, would suggest otherwise, especially considering that Seattle’s bullpen was on the cusp of a meltdown for the second straight day.
Baltimore still would’ve needed a lot to go right to rally back in this one, but with the cleanup man Cowser as the tying run and Brash struggling so mightily to find the strike zone, one big swing could’ve done it.
And despite all the drama leading up to the ninth inning, even more manifested for the final three outs -- as Andrés Muñoz was summoned one day after his fifth blown save. The two-time All-Star fell into a 2-0 count to his first batter and walked his second but ultimately locked down his 10th save.