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Seattle Mariners

Mariners beat Athletics on Leonys Martin’s extra-innings home run

Seattle Times

OAKLAND, Calif. – Leonys Martin knew it was gone the moment it left his bat, and so did the handful of fans that made their way to the Oakland Coliseum on a cool Tuesday evening.

The sound of Josh Smith’s fastball hitting the barrel of Martin’s maple bat produced such an unmistakable crack followed by a lingering echo in the cavernous and decaying stadium that the first reaction for fans was a gasp.

The towering blast, a reminder of Martin’s swing speed and power, carried deep into the right field stands.

For the first time in a game they seemed destined to lose after the first inning, the Mariners had a lead. And they didn’t let it go. Edwin Diaz worked around a one-out single and a walk, retiring the final two batters to secure a 7-6 come-from-behind win over the A’s.

With the win, the Mariners improved to 58-56 on the season and with the Royals and Rays both losing, they moved into a tie with those two teams for the second American League wild-card spot.

It was an improbable comeback for a team that trailed by deficits of 5-1 and 6-2 in the game.

The now month-long struggles of Ariel Miranda to keep runs off the scoreboard and the ball in the park continued. It’s a growing problem for the young left-hander and the Mariners, who desperately need him to pitch at the level he showed earlier in the season.

With Felix Hernandez on the disabled list, Miranda has the potential to be the Mariners’ next best pitcher in the rotation, but he’s still a long ways behind James Paxton. But right now, he’s struggling like the myriad No. 5 level starters that Seattle has sent to the mound this season.

Miranda pitched five innings, giving up six runs on five hits with two walks and six strikeouts.

Over his last 10 starts, Miranda is 1-3 with a 6.22 ERA having allowed 38 runs on 54 hits, including 18 homers.

Four of those runs allowed against the A’s came on two swings of the bat.

In the first inning, following a leadoff double to Rajai Davis and a walk to Marcus Semien, Miranda made a regrettable pitch to Khris Davis with one out, leaving a 2-1 fastball over the middle of the plate. And while Davis does strike out at a mind-numbing rate-once in every four plate appearances-he isn’t going to miss a gift like that pitch.

Davis hit a tailing fly ball to right field that seemed destined to float foul. Instead it carried over the wall for a three-run homer. It was the 28th homer that Miranda has allowed this season-the most in all of baseball.

Davis nearly got Miranda again in the third inning with the A’s leading 3-1, smoking an RBI triple off the wall in dead center. He later scored on a fly ball to make it 5-1.

Miranda’s last run allowed came via the homer, of course. Mark Canha crushed a solo homer to center to make it 6-2 in the fifth.

Seattle chipped away at the lead, picking up two runs in the sixth on Ben Gamel’s RBI double to right. They added another in the seventh on a run-scoring bloop single from Nelson Cruz.

The Mariners tied the game in eighth with some help from Oakland. Gamel reached and advanced to second on third baseman Matt Chapman’s throwing error to first base. He moved to second on a ground ball and scored on pinch-hitter Danny Valencia’s shallow fly to center.

The ball was nowhere deep enough for most runners to tag. But third base coach Manny Acta was aggressive and took advantage of Davis’ weak throwing arm and feet not being set when he caught it. Gamel sprinted for home made a nifty slide to avoid a late tag to make it 6-6.