SEATTLE — Before playing his first game for the Orioles in more than two months, outfielder Colton Cowser said he just wanted to slot “seamlessly” back into the team, as if he didn’t miss extended time due to a fractured thumb.

Then he batted off rumors that he was scared of shrimp and swatted a decisive home run in Baltimore’s 5-1 win against the Seattle Mariners. It was a purely Cowser sort of day — a little bit of fun followed by a vital knock.

The Orioles have missed this since March 30, although his absence is not all that has beleaguered an underperforming club. Still, without Cowser in the lineup, there was troublesome run production. Without Cowser in the clubhouse, there was a void in hilarity from a serious player who knows how to joke at the right moments.

“It’s a huge personality in the clubhouse, which we love,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said pregame. “The whole package is great.”

So, yes, Cowser returned to Baltimore’s lineup Tuesday night and did so seamlessly by playing a tidy center field and blasting an opposite-field home run in the sixth inning against right-hander Eduard Bazardo.

“You forget how free and easy that swing is right there,” Mansolino said after the game. “He looked really good for first game back in the big leagues after two months.”

Cowser’s return doesn’t solve all of the issues around the Orioles. For one, even this four-game winning streak — the first of the season — still only brings Baltimore to 23-36, and to get to .500 ahead of the trade deadline, they would need a 31-18 record over the next 49 games. That’s a tall task.

But Cowser is the first of many injured players to return. Infielder Jordan Westburg will play another rehab game for Triple-A Norfolk on Wednesday, and he could be back in the majors after that. Outfielders Ramón Laureano (Wednesday) and Tyler O’Neill (this weekend) will both begin rehab assignments imminently.

And in Tuesday’s series-opening win, Cowser’s long ball coupled with the continuation of a breakout season for right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano. Cowser finished second in American League Rookie of the Year voting last season. Sugano, at 35, is building a strong case for consideration for that award, too.

Sugano lowered his season ERA to 3.04 and built his growing All-Star case by pitching seven innings with one run against him, which came on Rowdy Tellez’s solo homer.

There was added meaning to this start, Sugano said, because it came inside the stadium in which Ichiro Suzuki made himself a star.

“I was really excited to pitch here, and obviously Ichiro is a legendary player in Japan,” Sugano said through team interpreter Yuto Sakurai. ”I’m really happy that I was able to produce this kind of outcome.”

But when he was on the mound, it was hard to guess there was any added significance. Sugano was his usual stalwart self. He especially impressed in the sixth, when a pair of singles to lead off the frame brought to the plate Julio Rodríguez and Cal Raleigh — the largest threats in Seattle’s lineup.

Sugano struck out Rodríguez and forced Raleigh into an inning-ending double play.

“Nothing speeds up on this guy,” Mansolino said. “When he came in the dugout after the seventh inning, it looked like he had come in after the first inning, it looked like he had just thrown a bullpen in left field. It’s the same mentality, it’s the same heartbeat, whether it’s the first inning or that part of the lineup in a big part of the game.”

That quality start laid the groundwork for Baltimore’s offense, which hit around right-hander George Kirby but didn’t score in bunches. The Orioles recorded three first-inning singles and scored once. They put two more on base in the second but missed out on adding. In the fifth, though, Ryan O’Hearn’s two-out single brought home the go-ahead run.

The outing came to a scary conclusion for Kirby. Facing likely his last batter, having already allowed two runs on eight singles, he was struck by a 102.7-mph line drive off the bat of Ramón Urías. The ball rocketed off Kirby’s glove and hit his face before it ricocheted to first base for the final out of the fifth.

Kirby walked off the mound with blood dripping down his chin. He was quickly met by trainers and steered down the tunnel toward the clubhouse. Kirby told reporters after the game that he’s OK despite a noticeable cut on the right side of his upper lip.

With the way Sugano pitched, it wasn’t necessary for Baltimore to produce an avalanche of runs. The bullpen backed up his effort, too, with scoreless frames from right-handers Bryan Baker and Félix Bautista.

Baker’s eighth inning was tense. He didn’t have his “A” stuff, he said, and he allowed two one-out singles to put runners on the corners. Baker left the mound with a roar, though, after forcing a foul pop-up and recording a strikeout of Rodríguez to hold the lead.

Two insurance runs came in the ninth to give the Orioles breathing room. As part of a two-hit night, Heston Kjerstad broke out of a slump by thwacking a double that scored Coby Mayo from first base.

“Definitely haven’t been performing the way I know I’m capable of or the way I want to starting the season, and that’s tough,” Kjerstad said. “Been working through it, been doing a lot of work in the cage with our coaches, making adjustments, and hopefully, those are kind of starting to show up.”

Jackson Holliday, one of the few players without a hit to that point, broke out of his 0-fer with an RBI single. And Adley Rutschman recorded his third single of the day — another positive step for a player who has underperformed.

Can all that good come from one player returning? Of course not, no matter how influential Cowser is. But for the first time in a while, the energy is lifting around a club that has been flat for far too long.

“Tomo set the tone. It was business as usual for him, and I think we just kind of followed suit behind that,” Baker said. “Obviously, getting Cowser back is big, especially if he’s going to continue hitting homers. He brings good energy as well. It’s good to get a few wins in a row and it’s a game of momentum, like I said, so the vibes are high and hopefully we can continue that.”