SEATTLE -- The Mariners’ bats finally put together the breakthrough inning they’ve been seeking all homestand, manufacturing four runs on back-to-back pitches thanks to a pair of clutch plate appearances from the Kyles in the eighth inning of Tuesday’s 5-2 win over the Orioles.

After the Mariners loaded the bases with no outs on a Sam Haggerty single and consecutive walks to Mitch Haniger and Ty France, Kyle Seager scorched a sacrifice fly off left-hander Tanner Scott to deep center that looked like it would at least give the Mariners breathing room into the ninth inning.

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Then, Kyle Lewis immediately followed by blasting the very next pitch, a 98.5 mph center-cut fastball from Scott, for a towering three-run homer that represented the dagger.

Seager has been solid all season; he also had a solo homer in the fourth inning that got the Mariners on the board. But for Lewis, it was the biggest moment and hit for the reigning American League Rookie of the Year -- a welcome sign after he hit .190/.244/.357 through his first 11 games, then began Tuesday 0-for-3.

“I was hyped, man,” Lewis said. “We've been playing hard. The team has been playing hard and trying to get big hits and the offense, we've been trying to get going. So it was cool to just provide some energy and I definitely wanted to enjoy that one, being able to put some runs on the board late in the game.”

Lewis also continued to etch his name in the franchise history books, joining Alvin Davis as the fastest Mariners to knock 20 homers, with each needing just 88 games to do so. The two have bonded since Lewis broke into the Majors, but they’ve grown even closer since Lewis joined Mr. Mariner as a fellow Rookie of the Year. Davis took home the hardware in 1984.

“With him being a mentor, especially for me, any time his name gets brought up in conversation that I'm in, that's something that me and him, we always try to share moments throughout the year,” Lewis said. “That'll be another thing that we can sit down and talk about.”

Though it was the two-pitch sequence that will hog the highlight reel, the three preceding plate appearances carried just as much merit.

France, who was in an 0-for-21 dating back to Thursday, was patient enough not to swing at a center-cut pitch ahead 3-0, then not get too excited when the count went full. His ability to wait out a walk in that moment was critical. Same for Haniger, who is in a 5-for-34 skid over his past nine games. Sam Haggerty ignited it all by reaching on a leadoff single, his second of the night.

“I think the guys are really starting to put it together,” Lewis said. “It's a long season. We’ve got a long way to go. And it's going to be ebbs and flows throughout the year and guys will go up, go down, and we'll see where we end up at the end of the year.”

There was also an unsung contributor in play: the three-batter minimum rule. The O’s brought on the lefty Scott explicitly to face Seager. Under the old rules, there’s no chance they would’ve kept him in to face Lewis.

“It makes a huge difference. … It definitely changes the strategy of it, no question,” Seager said.

The lockdown bullpen continued to do its thing by giving up just one run in 3 2/3 innings to back Justin Dunn, who again had some command issues, again overcame them, but again couldn’t go deep into the game because of his elevated pitch count. He wound up lasting just 5 1/3 innings with one run and allowed fewer hits (three) than walks (four). In fact, that’s the case for his entire season -- 16 hits and 17 walks through his fifth start.

Stuff-wise, Dunn has been able to limit enough damage to overcome the free passes. Consider this: Opposing hitters have a .174 batting average against him that would be 15th-best in MLB if he had enough innings to qualify. They’re not squaring him up either, with just a .293 slugging percentage. But the walks have led to a .315 opposing on-base percentage.

If he’s able to steer more into the strike zone, the underlying numbers suggest that he could catapult to another level.

“A hundred percent a lot of positives to take away,” Dunn said. “Even to be able to get through that without my best stuff is very encouraging. But the competitor in me wishes I got a little deeper and was able to save some guys in the ’pen for tomorrow. So with that, I'm glad we got a win.”