Doug Fister pitches Mariners past Orioles, 4-3

That wasn't the soft-tossing, one-pitch Doug Fister of yesteryear making his opponents look foolish.

And his Mariners teammates needed every one of his career-best nine strikeouts over 7-1/3 innings in a Monday afternoon game against the Baltimore Orioles.

What should have been a rout turned into a 4-3 nail-biter, with the Mariners finally prevailing behind the arms of Fister and his bullpen.

The unexpected power shown by Fister came at the right time for a Mariners squad that found little in its bats from about the third inning on.

"I have been putting in a lot of work in the weight room," Fister said. "I've spent a lot of time lifting, conditioning and throwing. So, yeah, I feel a lot stronger this year. I'm in good shape. We'll see where it takes us."

Where Fister took his team was to its 10th win in 12 games to move back into third place in the American League West. An announced Memorial Day crowd of 22,819 at Safeco Field saw the Mariners nearly run the Orioles and starting pitcher Jake Arrieta out of the ballpark before the third inning was done.

But after a Jack Cust run-scoring triple in the second inning, then a 12-pitch walk by Adam Kennedy with the bases loaded in the third, followed by a Miguel Olivo walk, all the scoring for Seattle stopped. The Mariners chased Arrieta, but failed to add to their lead and let Baltimore back into the game with some shaky fielding in the eighth.

The Orioles scored a pair that inning when Robert Andino beat out an infield single that Chone Figgins couldn't handle at third base. Two singles later, one run was in and another scored when Figgins booted a grounder by Vladimir Guerrero.

Aaron Laffey helped the Mariners escape that inning. Figgins bounced a tough throw in the dirt at first base on Nick Reimold's leadoff infield single in the ninth, but Brandon League got a fly out and a double-play grounder to end the game.

It was the fifth save in a row for League after a series of misses. The difference now is, he's getting the grounders he needs.

"I just keep the ball down," League said. "If I keep the ball down, if the ball has angle — whether it's a four-seam fastball or a two-seam fastball — if you have the angle on the ball, it's harder to hit than one that stays on the same plane."

Fister's pitches were tougher to hit because he landed his curve for first-pitch strikes, then used an amped-up fastball to put hitters away.

He retired his first seven batters before Mark Reynolds slammed a ball deep into the left-field stands to cut Seattle's lead to 2-1 in the third. Then, after Seattle padded its lead to 4-1, Fister did what he could to hold the Orioles off.

Luke Scott opened the Baltimore fifth with a double, but Fister got out of that jam with two grounders and a strikeout on Andino. He notched his ninth and final strikeout on J.J. Hardy with two on and none out in the eighth.

"That's big, mixing pitches up and putting it in the right location," Fister said.

Nick Markakis finally ended Fister's day with an RBI single on his 110th pitch. But the bullpen came in and did the job, for the most part.

One play that caught the eye of Mariners manager Eric Wedge came when Fister dove flat-out for a foul pop-up with two on and two out in the seventh. Fister didn't catch the ball, but escaped the inning on a ground out.

"One thing that really impresses me time and time again is that he really gets into it when it gets thick out there," Wedge said. "That says a lot about him. It says a lot about a pitcher, especially at this level."

Asked to expand on that, Wedge replied: "It's just the way he channels his intensity and his focus. And that's what you have to do. When it's getting thick out there, the ability to slow things down and focus and refocus. Just to dig deep, to make pitches and handle situations.

"That's what I see from Doug."

Geoff Baker: 206-464-8286 or gbaker@seattletimes.com