Randy Arozarena homers in 10th to send Mariners to wild victory over Orioles

BALTIMORE - Give the Mariners' fill-in infielders the save for this one.

The Mariners' late-game relief woes resurfaced in another excruciating ninth inning Tuesday night, leaving only one real option out of the bullpen to turn to in the 10th inning: rookie right-hander Nick Davila, just a few hours after he was recalled from Triple-A Tacoma, and less than 24 hours after he was forced to cancel anniversary plans with his girlfriend.

I just couldn't believe I was in the game," Davila said after escaping a major jam in the 10th to earn his first major-league save in the Mariners' wild 6-5 victory over the Orioles at Camden Yards. "I had goose bumps going out there. I was like, 'This is not real.'"

The Mariners would not have survived without the game-saving glovework of second baseman Ryan Bliss and third baseman Patrick Wisdom, both of whom have been thrust into prominent roles this week as injuries piled up around the infield.

"Never a doubt," said catcher Mitch Garver, whose three-run homer gave the M's an early lead. "We can plug any of those guys in there and feel comfortable. I couldn't be happier that it worked out."

Wisdom threw out two runners at the plate and Bliss recorded two key outs in the last two innings, helping to set the stage for Randy Arozarena's 10th-inning heroics as the Mariners (36-32) held on for one of their most unlikely and unpredictable wins of the season.

"Just when you think you've seen it all," M's manager Dan Wilson said.

Davila and his girlfriend, Morgan, had just sat down for their two-year anniversary dinner Monday night at Din Tai Fung in Tukwila (a 7:30 p.m. reservation) when he got the call from Tacoma manager John Russell that he was being summoned to Baltimore to rejoin the Mariners.

"My girlfriend was crying. She was like, 'This is so crazy. What is going on?'" Davila said.

A little after 8 o'clock, Davila learned he needed to hustle to catch a 10:20 p.m. Alaska Airlines flight out of Sea-Tac. He had a Rainiers clubhouse attendant retrieve his baseball bag from his locker in Tacoma and meet him at the airport, but Davila had no time to get any personal belongings.

He landed in Baltimore a little after 6 a.m. local time Tuesday, got a few hours' sleep at the team hotel and was formally recalled to the active roster 55 minutes before the start of Tuesday's game.

Logan Gilbert, after a shaky first two innings completed six strong innings on a season-high 105 pitches. From there, the bullpen options were limited because of the heavy usage of Andrés Muñoz, Eduard Bazardo and Matt Brash the past couple games.

Rookie right-hander Alex Hoppe allowed an unearned run in the seventh inning, Gabe Speier pitched a scoreless eighth and José A. Ferrer blew a save chance by surrendering two runs in the bottom of the ninth.

That left Davila as the only option to protect a 6-4 lead after Arozarena's opposite-field, two-run homer gave the M's the lead back in the top of the 10th.

"Definitely running on adrenaline," Davila said.

With his first pitch, he plunked the Orioles' Blaze Alexander with a slider that was nowhere close to the plate.

"When he hit the first guy, I was like, '(Shoot), we're going to play another inning,'" Garver said.

Davila surrendered a two-strike single to ex-Mariner Leody Taveras, scoring the automatic runner from second base and cutting the M's lead to 6-5 as Alexander hustled first to third with no outs.

With the infield drawn in, Bliss made a diving catch in shallow right field for the first out, calling off Josh Naylor at the last moment.

Earlier, Bliss had closed out the ninth inning when he fielded Pete Alonso's 110.7-mph ground ball about 10 feet behind second base, then narrowly beat Gunnar Henderson to the bag for the final out, stranding the bases loaded and keeping the score tied 4-4.

"I'm literally playing every situation I can in my head before the pitch is going: 'If this ball is hit here, where can I go?'" said Bliss, who was recalled from Tacoma on Monday when J.P. Crawford was placed on the injured list. "I'm just looking everywhere to see what could happen, just playing it through (in his mind) that way when the play happens, I feel like I've seen it before."

For the second out of the 10th, with the infield still playing in and the tying run at third, Wisdom ran in to field a slow grounder on top of the third-base chalk line just as Alexander ran past him. Wisdom threw off his back foot to Garver, who applied the tag on Alexander a split second before the runner's hand touched the plate.

"Threw it right over the top of his head. Perfect throw," Garver said. "If he throws it another foot to his arm side, I'm not making that play."

The call stood after a replay review.

"It's like extra alert," Wisdom said. "But you try to calm yourself because you don't want to white-knuckle it out there. But just kind of be athletic, and you're obviously aware that that's the tying run."

For the final out, Davila got ahead of Tyler O'Neill, the former Mariners prospect, with two straight sinkers in the zone.

"I was like, 'Oh my god, I'm one pitch away,'" Davila said. "But then, there's so many guys that get one pitch away and then they blow it. So I was like, 'I can't get too ahead of myself. I've got to make sure I'm in the moment right here.'"

On a 2-2 pitch, Davila struck O'Neill out swinging over an inside sinker to end it.

"I just kind of blacked out," Davila said. "I just was in the moment and can't believe it. And after a crazy 24 hours, I'm so glad to be here.

BOX SCORE

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This story was originally published June 9, 2026 at 11:43 PM.