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Mariners-Orioles Preview

Aug 17, 2010 - 4:54 AM By ALAN FERGUSON STATS Writer

Seattle (46-72) at Baltimore (41-77), 7:05 p.m. EDT

In their return home, the Baltimore Orioles ended their first losing streak under Buck Showalter. The Orioles are hoping Kevin Millwood can follow suit to end his lengthy winless drought.

Facing the Seattle Mariners, however, may not help the right-hander's chances to accomplish that feat.

Millwood will try to earn his first victory in nearly two months when the teams continue a three-game series at Camden Yards on Tuesday night.

Baltimore (42-77) showcased some of its newfound resilience and improved to 10-4 under Showalter with Monday night's 5-4 comeback victory in 11 innings. After falling behind in the 10th, the Orioles benefited from a bases-loaded walk to tie the game again. Adam Jones then bunted home Nick Markakis with two outs in the following inning.

"I don't know if I've ever seen a game won in that style before," pitcher Brad Bergesen said. "It took a lot of guts."

Following consecutive defeats to end a 3-3 road trip, Baltimore bounced back for its seventh victory in eight home games since Showalter took over Aug. 3. The victory was also its eighth in 11 home matchups with the Mariners (46-73).

Millwood (2-12, 5.74 ERA) hasn't been as successful in his last 10 games against Seattle, going 1-8 with a 6.31 ERA. He's 0-1 with a 5.52 ERA in this season's two meetings and gave up five runs over 6 2-3 innings to the Mariners at Camden Yards on May 13 before the Orioles rallied for a 6-5 win.

Millwood enters this matchup 0-4 with a 7.18 ERA since beating Florida at home June 24, but has a 2.77 ERA over his last two starts. He allowed three runs over seven innings Thursday in Cleveland but absorbed a 4-1 defeat.

"He pitched well enough for us to win, that goes without saying," Showalter told the team's website. "That's the Kevin I remember. He kept us in the ballgame and didn't give in."

Another defeat Tuesday would tie Millwood with Houston's Roy Oswalt for the major league lead in losses.

The Mariners will attempt to extend Millwood's misery by helping Luke French (1-3, 4.96) bounce back from his second loss since being recalled from the minors. They'll need better clutch hitting after going 2 for 12 with runners in scoring position and stranding 12 on Monday.

"We had opportunities to score more runs and didn't do it," interim manager Daren Brown said. "Came back to bite up there at the end."

The left-hander, who has never faced Baltimore, is 1-2 with a 4.05 ERA in his three starts since July 28, and gave up four runs over six innings in Wednesday's 5-1 defeat to Oakland.

Seattle, which is 4-3 since Brown took over for the fired Don Wakamatsu on Aug. 9, is trying to avoid its first loss in the past four series. The Mariners, however, are also 4-15 on the road since June 30.