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Markakis' homer helps Orioles edge Mariners

Apr 24, 2008 - 6:38 AM SEATTLE (Ticker) -- With the rebuilding process beginning this season for the Baltimore Orioles, Nick Markakis continues to prove he is worthy of being one of the centerpieces of the franchise.

Markakis snapped a tie with a solo home run in the eighth inning, lifting the Orioles to a 3-2 win over the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday.

Melvin Mora tripled in a run and Daniel Cabrera (2-0) pitched eight strong innings for Baltimore, which snapped a two-game slide.

"We had a heartbreaking loss last night," Orioles manager Dave Trembley said. "In the first four innings, things got a little out of hand, but we fought back, and it just shows you what we've got going here."

The Orioles improved to 6-1 in one-run games.

The 24-year-old Markakis is one of the few players the Orioles have made unavailable in trade talks, and he has rewarded their faith by batting .310 this season and continuing to build on the prodigious talent that saw him drive in 112 runs last year.

"I'd say it was a rough game early on," said Markakis, who was caught looking at called third strikes in his first two at-bats. "But we hung with it and played all nine innings like you are supposed to, and we battled back. It was a good win."

The Mariners brought in lefthander Ryan Rowland-Smith (0-1) to face Markakis with one out in the eighth, and the lefthanded hitter deposited the first pitch he saw over the wall in right field for his fourth homer of the season, putting Baltimore on top, 3-2.

Markakis said he was looking to swing at the first pitch from Rowland-Smith.

"It happened to be a good pitch, middle in, and I put a good swing on it," Markakis said. "It was a bit of a relief (after the strikeouts), and the most important thing was that it helped us win a ballgame."

The homer gave Cabrera all the breathing room he needed to notch his second win of the season. The righthander allowed two runs and five hits while striking out five.

"It was one of those days where you feel unbelievable and anything you throw makes the hitters look bad," Cabrera said after his longest outing of the year.

Cabrera has allowed two earned runs or less in each of his last three starts. After leading the league in walks each of the past two seasons, he issued none and threw 65 of his 95 pitches for strikes.

In the fourth inning, the Mariners loaded the bases with none out but managed just one run.

"That was the key, that was why we won the game," Cabrera said. "I just made the pitches and they hit a couple of ground balls and popped up."

George Sherrill, who was acquired from Seattle in the offseason as part of the deal involving Erik Bedard, pitched a scoreless ninth for his seventh save of the season - and fourth against his former team.

"It was good to get it out of the way," Sherrill said of his first appearance back in Seattle. "It's always good to face these guys. They know me and I know them, so luckily, I've been able to come out on top."

The Mariners jumped on top early with single runs in the first and fourth innings, but the Orioles tied it with a two-run sixth, when Mora tripled in Brian Roberts and scored on a groundout by Markakis.

Seattle starter Carlos Silva was removed in the top of the seventh with tightness in his right thigh, which he said occurred on a pickoff attempt.

"We put some ice on it," Mariners manager John McLaren said. "We'll see how it is (Thursday), but I am hearing good things from the trainer."

The righthander was charged with two runs and six hits in six-plus frames.

"It was a well-pitched game on both sides," McLaren said. "We had the bases loaded with no outs and we got one run out of it. We need to get more than one run out of that.

"Cabrera is one of those young guns who is extremely difficult when he is on. It was one of those nights when he had everything working."