Mariners hold on to beat Brewers 7-6
SEATTLE – No style points for this one Friday night for the Mariners. Not that it matters, of course. But they will take this 7-6 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers and move on.
The Mariners wasted numerous chances to break the game open by stranding 12 runners. They settled for small punches instead of the knockout blow. And they couldn’t put the Brewers away.
And the Brewers seemingly asked to be put away by making a series of mistakes. But the Mariners made it tougher than it should have been.
Starter Wade LeBlanc gave up three homers in his 5 1/3 innings which turned a 1-0 lead into a tie and a 4-1 lead into 4-3.
But the Mariners, as they have done repeatedly in recent weeks, turned to their bullpen, the Wolfpack, and it again delivered.
Drew Storen, Arquimedes Caminero, Tom Wilhelmsen and Edwin Diaz covered the final 11 outs as the Mariners won for the 13th time in 17 games and closed to within two games of the final wild-card spot.
Diaz gave up a two-run single in the ninth inning to Ryan Braun after walking the bases loaded but survived.
It’s not that the Mariners didn’t have plenty of production. They had 11 hits, including home runs by Kyle Seager, Robinson Cano and Adam Lind.
It was a battle though.
LeBlanc (3-0) got the victory, while Diaz matched a franchise record by opening his career with nine straight successful saves. Byron McLaughlin had nine in a row in 1979.
It was 1-1 when Shawn O’Malley opened the fifth inning with a bunt single.
Milwaukee starter Brent Suter (0-1) blew an 84 mph fastball past Franklin Gutierrez, but Cano connected on an 82-mph slider for a two-run homer.
Cano just missed a homer in the first inning on a drive to center. This time, he went the shorter distance: 361 feet to right field for his 28th of the season and a 3-1 lead.
Shortstop Orlando Arcia temporarily saved a run by knocking down Kyle Seager’s single with Nelson Cruz at second, but Stefen Romero followed by serving a flare into center for an RBI single.
That finished Suter, but Jhan Marinez kept the score at 4-1 by retiring the next two hitters.
As he did after the Mariners took a 1-0 lead in the fourth, LeBlanc began the next inning by allowing a leadoff homer. This time to Jonathan Villar.
Then LeBlanc gave up a homer to Keon Broxton, and the Mariners’ three-run lead, within three pitches, was down to 4-3. LeBlanc then struck out Ryan Braun before the Mariners summoned Storen.
The Mariners answered with an unearned run later in the inning after Arcia committed a throwing error on Ketel Marte’s leadoff grounder. Marte scored when left fielder Jake Elmore couldn’t hold Cruz’s two-out sinking liner.
Cruz was credited with an RBI single, and the Mariners led 5-3. The Mariners had a chance for more after loading the bases but Lind took a third strike from Tyler Cravy.
Again, Milwaukee responded, this time against reliever Arquimedes Caminero after he retired the first two batters in the seventh. Villar singled, stole second and scored on Broxton’s single.
Then it was the Mariners’ turn.
Leonys Martin drew a one-out walk later in the seventh from Chase Anderson and stole second when Brewers chose not to cover the base.
Catcher Manny Pina came up throwing and appeared to hurt himself when he pulled the throw back. Marte then flicked an RBI double into left for a 6-4 lead.
Once more, the Mariners had the chance for a bigger inning after putting runners at first and third with one out but settled for the single run.
Lind’s two-out homer in the eighth closed the scoring.
The Mariners let Suter, in his major league debut, work around two walks and an error on a pickoff throw in a scoreless first inning. Suter walked the first batter in the second inning, and got away with that, too.
LeBlanc retired the first 10 Brewers before Broxton yanked a single to left.
The Mariners didn’t get their first hit until Seager launched an 0-1 curve into the right-field seats in the fourth inning. It was his 23rd homers of the season.
The lead didn’t last long.
Chris Carter crushed a full-count fastball – an 85-mph fastball from LeBlanc – for a leadoff homer in the fifth inning. The ball traveled 465 feet to dead center field.
Mariners send down Lee
Before the game, the Mariners announced they had optioned slumping first baseman Dae-Ho Lee to Triple-A Tacoma.
The Mariners recalled Stefan Romero from Tacoma.
Lee, a star in South Korea and Japan, was a revelation the first half of the season, earning his way into a regular platoon at first base. But he’s been in a slump since the All-Star break, hitting just .109 with one home run and four RBIs in 20 games. Lee is hitless in his past 14 at-bats.
Seattle also activated reliever Steve Cishek from the 15-day disabled list and optioned right-hander Joe Wieland to Tacoma.
Sale of Mariners official
The sale of the Mariners from Nintendo of America to a group of minority owners led by Western Wireless Corp. founder John Stanton and retired Microsoft executive Chris Larson has become official.
The sale closed Friday, a day after it was approved by Major League Baseball. Stanton becomes Mariners chairman and CEO, replacing Howard Lincoln. This is the first transfer in control of an MLB team since Ron Fowler led the purchase of the San Diego Padres in August 2012.
“I care deeply and passionately about the game of baseball and about baseball fans in Seattle and the Northwest,” Stanton said in a statement. “Mariners fans have been so positive, so patient with the team, and we want to reward them with playoff and World Series baseball here at Safeco Field.”
Nintendo of America retained a 10 percent stake in ownership and the regional sports network ROOT Sports.
The team said the club’s board of directors includes Stanton, Larson, Lincoln, John Ellis, Buck Ferguson, Jeff Raikes and Frank Shrontz.