BALTIMORE (AP) -- Steve Pearce hit his first career grand slam, J.J. Hardy singled in the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning and the Baltimore Orioles weathered a lengthy rain delay and a comeback by the Seattle Mariners in a 5-4 victory Thursday.
After Pearce connected in the first inning for a 4-0 lead, the Orioles managed only one more hit until Chris Davis led off the eighth with a single off Danny Farquhar (0-3). Davis advanced on a groundout and scored on an awkward slide after Hardy bounced a single up the middle.
Tommy Hunter (1-1) worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth and Zach Britton got three straight outs for his ninth save.
 
Pearce slam, Hardy's RBI lift Orioles past Mariners 5-4
 
Although the Mariners rallied from the early deficit, they went 3 for 15 with runners in scoring position and had 13 left on base.
Playing his first game with Seattle after being traded from the Cubs on Tuesday, catcher Welington Castillo drove in a run and scored one.
Pearce connected off J.A. Happ following two singles and a walk. It was his fourth home run of the season and only the second since April 7.
It was 4-1 in the middle of the third inning when rain caused a stoppage of play of 2 hours, 5 minutes. That forced Orioles starter Chris Tillman out of the game, and Brian Matusz promptly gave up a two-run single to pinch-hitter Rickie Weeks.
Seattle loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh. Darren O'Day was on the brink of escaping without damage, getting two outs before walking Logan Morrison on a 3-2 pitch to force in the tying run.
But Baltimore bounced back to win the deciding matchup of the three-game series. The Orioles went 5-4 in a homestand that followed an extended road trip because of rioting in Baltimore.
After Pearce's grand slam, a drive to left that barely cleared the wall, the Mariners chipped away before and after the rain delay.
Castillo hit a sacrifice fly in the second inning and singled ahead of Weeks' hit in the fourth.
Seattle's Kyle Seager was ejected in the fifth inning for arguing a third strike.
 

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