Random Thoughts

SEATTLE -- Call it eight the hard way. The Orioles jumped out to their highest-scoring inning of the year without the aid of a home run on Friday night, an eight-run fifth that paced them to a 10-5 win over the Mariners. Every Oriole reached base in the rally, and eight of the nine starters had at least one hit before Seattle could turn them away.

All of the runs scored with two outs, and five of them were charged to Seattle starter Jarrod Washburn (7-6). Baltimore (52-56) got three straight singles to start things off, and Ramon Hernandez doubled in one run. Washburn walked one batter, and then left Jay Payton cleared the bases with a triple. Three more hits ensued, scoring three more runs.

It was Baltimore's most runs in an inning since July 22 of the 2006 season, when it scored nine against Tampa Bay. And it was more than enough for Garrett Olson, who had held the Mariners to one hit through the first four innings. Olson (8-5) used the advantage to spin 4 1/3 more solid innings, marking the first time he'd ever gone deeper than the seventh.

The Orioles hit two long fly balls to the warning track in the second and wound up leaving the bases loaded. Seattle (41-68) didn't even push a runner into scoring position until the fifth, when Olson got two fly balls to strand runners at first and second. The Mariners hit into a double play in the sixth, and Olson escaped the seventh with runners at the corners.

Olson came back out for the ninth, but he was unable to finish the job. The left-hander allowed the Mariners to load the bases, and Baltimore went to reliever Lance Cormier. Seattle wound up scoring five runs before the Orioles closed out the game.

Designated hitter Aubrey Huff, who went 1-for-3, left the game early with a head contusion. Huff apparently hit his head on the concrete runway from the dugout to the clubhouse, and Baltimore pulled him early in favor of Luke Scott.