SEATTLE -- While the Mariners’ opener strategy continued to raise eyebrows Thursday night, the final result worked out just fine as Wade LeBlanc threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings in relief and Seattle came from behind to top the Orioles, 5-2, in the series opener at T-Mobile Park.

LeBlanc has pitched behind an opener four times in the past three weeks and the 34-year-old lefty is 2-0 with a 3.52 ERA with four walks and 18 strikeouts over 23 innings. He held the Orioles to four hits and two walks with seven strikeouts, allowing the Mariners to rally from a 2-0 deficit as Omar Narváez and Domingo Santana each homered.

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Of LeBlanc’s 218 Major League appearances, 106 games have come in relief so he’s no stranger to the role, though coming out of the ‘pen with bases loaded in the first is certainly new.

“Just give me the ball and I’ll throw it,” he said. “That’s about all I can say. The defense did great tonight and the offense picked me up.”

The Mariners are 8-7 over their last 15 games and won back-to-back outings for the first time since topping the A’s twice on May 13-14 as they improved to 33-46. The Orioles lost their ninth straight in falling to 21-54, the worst record in MLB.

“We’re streaking,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said with a smile as his club finally pieced together consecutive wins.

Servais wasn’t quite as happy with the streak of rough openers, however, as rookie right-hander Tayler Scott only got two outs in the first before being replaced by LeBlanc after walking the bases loaded.

“You’ve got to throw strikes,” Servais said. “You’ve got to throw the ball over the plate in this league. I don’t care who you’re facing, whether it’s experienced hitters, young hitters -- you’ve got to throw strikes and he just wasn’t able to do that tonight to finish them off.”

LeBlanc allowed two of those runners to score when Rio Ruiz greeted him with a single to right before the veteran southpaw ended the frame.

The two runs charged to Scott continued a troubling trend as four different relievers -- Austin Adams, Gerson Bautista, Cory Gearrin and Scott -- have a combined 19.50 ERA in seven attempts at the opener, with 11 hits, 13 earned runs, 11 walks and five strikeouts combined over six innings.

The Mariners have gotten a scoreless outing from only two of their seven openers, while allowing three runs in the first inning of three of the games and two in the other two.

But the Mariners have managed to go 3-4 when they’ve started an opener, thanks to good results from LeBlanc and fellow lefty Tommy Milone, who are 2-0 with a 3.10 ERA in 40 2/3 innings as the followers in those games.

Adams struck out the side in the eighth and Roenis Elias polished off the ninth for his eighth save as the Mariners allowed just four hits while striking out 11.

“Everybody gets caught up in the first inning and what’s going on there. And it’s been a struggle for us,” Servais said. “We haven’t found that guy yet to go out there and put a zero up there consistently. But overall, what you’re looking for out of that is working.

“I know people will disagree with that because they get caught up in the first inning. But at the end of the day, we get seven innings out of our starter and one other guy and it’s two runs and we’re right in the game. Go to the eighth and ninth inning guy and it’s working.

“As far as Wade and Tommy being able to handle it, they’ve done a great job and it’s helping them. We’ll see where we’re at going forward. It is a little frustrating right now in the first inning.”

Domingo on a roll

Santana continues to shine as the big right fielder launched his third homer in the past two nights and hiked his season total to 16 with another opposite-field shot in the sixth.

“It’s amazing. That’s some kind of power that way and he’s on one of those streaks right now,” Servais said. ‘He’s had a really good year. He’s done a lot of good things, really from the start with a grand slam in Japan and he’s kept it rolling.”

Santana has hit .338 (23-for-68) with six homers and 13 RBIs over his last 16 games, raising his average to .279 and his team-leading RBI total to 55.

Narvaez is also on a hot streak as the 27-year-old catcher went 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored to hike his average to .291 with a career-high 11 home runs.