Mariners 6, Orioles 5 (10). Baltimore's Scott McGregor and Seattle's Mark Langston were both left-handed, and both listed as being of fairly similar size (6'1, 190 against 6'2, 177). The similarities ended there, however; McGregor was a veteran where Langston was a rookie, and McGregor was a control artist (career rates of 2.2 BB/9 and 3.8 K/9) where Langston was unharnessed power, at least by 1984 standards (3.9 BB/9, 7.5 K/9).
McGregor worked around an error in the first inning, thanks to a double play ball off the bat of Barry Bonnell. The bottom of the inning saw a one-out Rich Dauer double, followed by a Cal Ripken single on which Dauer was thrown out trying to score. Baltimore recovered as Eddie Murray walked and Gary Roenicke singled Ripken home with the game's first run.
Steve Henderson drew a second-inning walk and was stranded, while Mike Young was hit by a pitch and Todd Cruz singled in the bottom of the inning, with the runners getting left at the corners. Both starters were perfect in the third, and Langston was again in the fourth after McGregor navigated around a Bonnell leadoff double in the top of the inning. McGregor managed a spotless fifth, and the bottom of the inning saw Baltimore extend its lead when John Shelby walked, Dauer singled, and Murray tripled them both home for a 3-0 margin.
Seattle struck back in the top of the sixth. Spike Owen led off with a single, and Jack Perconte moved him to second with a walk. Bonnell singled to score the first Mariner run of the day, Alvin Davis followed with another RBI single, and Al Cowens then launched a 3-run homer to put the M's in front 5-3. Sammy Stewart relieved McGregor and worked around a walk and an error to avoid any further damage, but five runs was plenty.
Baltimore rallied in the bottom of the sixth with back-to-back doubles by Young and Floyd Rayford, prompting Ed Vande Berg to replace Langston; he retired the next two hitters to leave the tying run at second. Stewart and Vande Berg both worked around leadoff hits in the seventh (a Perconte single and a Dauer double, respectively), with Vande Berg loading the bases before a double play bailed him out.
Tippy Martinez threw a 1-2-3 eighth, and Young led off the bottom of the inning with a game-tying homer. Martinez allowed only a Bonnell double in the ninth, while Vandeberg set the Orioles down in order to send the game to extras. With one out in the tenth, Dave Henderson broke the tie with a solo homer; Vande Berg allowed a single to Benny Ayala in the bottom of the inning, but nothing else, finishing off the game.
There was a significant amount of good work by players you might not expect in this game - while Cal Ripken and Eddie Murray and Alvin Davis all made contributions, the big performances came from names like Barry Bonnell and Rich Dauer and Mike Young. There was also a remarkable 4.2-inning relief appearance by Ed Vande Berg; it would be the second-longest bullpen outing of his career. (Remarkably, the longer one lasted over 7 innings, and came in a nine-inning game.)
The most noteworthy of the big hits, however, was also the last: Dave Henderson's game-winning tenth-inning homer. Henderson had been a good player in 1983, but was on a horrific slump to start the '84 season; he entered May 19 without a single home run on the season, and carrying an appalling slugging percentage of .169. The homer started a significant turnaround, as Henderson would hit .306/.334/.526 over the rest of the season; it also served as a first taste of late-game heroism, which turned out to be rather habit forming.
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