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Johnson wins first career start as O's sweep M's

Aug 9, 2012 - 4:18 AM Baltimore, MD (Sports Network) - Steve Johnson struck out nine over six innings in his first major league start, and Baltimore completed a three-game sweep of the Seattle Mariners with a 9-2 victory Wednesday night.

Matt Wieters knocked in five runs, and Mark Reynolds and Nick Markakis homered for the playoff-contending Orioles, who equaled a season-best with their fifth straight win.

Johnson (1-0) allowed five hits, including a two-run homer to Kyle Seager in the sixth. The 24-year-old right-hander walked two and was removed after throwing 97 pitches, 67 for strikes.

"He was good, had command of the fastball," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "He got a little tired there at the end. I really wanted to send him out there for one hitter in the next inning."

Johnson started 23 years to the day that his father, Dave, picked up his first big league triumph with the Orioles, beating the Minnesota Twins. On July 15, when Steve made his major league debut, the pair became the sixth father-son tandem to play for the Orioles.

Kevin Millwood (4-10) was tagged for eight hits and seven runs over four innings and faltered to 1-6 over his last 13 starts.

Seager had three hits, but the Mariners lost their fourth in a row.

J.J. Hardy singled and Chris Davis walked, both with one out in the home first. With two outs, Wieters sent a line drive to right field, and the ball went in and out of the glove of a leaping Eric Thames, resulting in a 2-0 lead.

Markakis tripled to lead off the third and scored on Hardy's singled under the glove of Seager at third. Hardy scored later in the frame on a Wieters groundout, just after a double from Adam Jones.

"We didn't make any errors, but we didn't make any plays," Mariners manager Eric Wedge said. "There were four or five different things that happened early on that just can't happen. We're not doing what we need to be doing out there defensively."

Reynolds and Markakis homered in a span of three batters in the fourth. Reynolds ended a 74 at-bat drought without a long ball by launching his homer over the wall in right-center. After Omar Quintanilla singled, Markakis went deep to right for a 7-0 cushion.

Wieters completed his big night with a two-run double to right-center off Josh Kinney in the seventh.

Game Notes

Prior to the game, the Orioles placed infielder Ryan Flaherty on the 15-day disabled list, and recalled Johnson and reliever Miguel Socolovich from Triple-A Norfolk. Socolovich escaped a bases-loaded jam in the eighth inning and also pitched the ninth...Millwood fell to 9-4 lifetime against the Orioles. He pitched for the Orioles in 2010, going 4-16...The Orioles have won six straight at home against the Mariners...Wieters has three 5-RBI games this season...Troy Patton, who pitched a scoreless seventh for Baltimore, has a 16-game scoreless streak...After the game, the Orioles announced infielder Manny Machado will be called up from Double-A Bowie to make his major league debut in Thursday night's game against Kansas City. Machado was the third overall pick in the 2010 draft.