Mike Leake pitches into 9th, Mariners beat Rays 5-4

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – When the ninth inning was teetering on going from bad to catastrophic, Kyle Seager, as he’s done on more than one occasion, put a stop to the drama with his glove.

The veteran third baseman, in the midst of his best defensive season since winning the Gold Glove in 2014, coolly ended the game, making a difficult play look routine for the final out of the Mariners’ 5-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday night.

Seattle improved to 39-23 and 19-9 in one-run games, though this one-run margin was largely self-created.

“We wanted to add on to our one-run wins,” manager Scott Servais said, jokingly. “That wasn’t the way we planned it, but we’ll take it.”

With two outs and the tying run on second, Daniel Robertson chopped a ground ball off Tropicana Field’s decaying FieldTurf to third base. The big first hop, just in front of the plate, forced Seager to give ground and play it off the second bounce on his backhand. It pushed him to the last few remaining feet of dirt before the outfield “grass” started. From there, he had to push hard off his back foot, and get rid of the ball as fast as possible with Robertson speeding to first.

Understanding his arm strength – or lack thereof – he knew that he couldn’t throw the ball all the way in the air. Instead, he fired low and used the turf for a hard skip to first baseman Ryon Healy, who made the long stretch and dig to get Robertson by a step.

“I’ve played here a few times, and you kind of know how the ball bounces, and you know it’s easier that you can bounce it over there and the turf will give it a nice hop,” Seager said. “And Healy has been so good over there. You just try to get it there as fast as possible. In that situation, there’s a lot of confidence for me to know I can bounce it over there and he will make the play.”

While he hasn’t hit as well as expected this season, with a .244 batting average, Seager’s defense has been stellar and a big reason for the Mariners’ overall success.

“Sometimes guys panic, and they try to throw that ball in the air,” Servais said. “Kyle is very seasoned. He’s got a great internal clock, and he knows what he’s doing over there. He played it perfectly, and Healy did a nice job on the other end.”

The play ended a wild return for reliever Alex Colome, who was pitching against his former team on four days rest. Last year, Colome saved 47 games for Tampa Bay. But he was facing the Rays for the third time since being traded to Seattle, along with outfielder Denard Span, two weeks ago. The layoff and the emotions of pitching back at The Trop led to some struggles.

Colome entered the game after starter Mike Leake gave up a leadoff double to Wilson Ramos, ending his bid for a complete game.

Asked to protect a 5-1 lead, Colome retired the first two hitters he faced, but the third out took a little more time. He nicked Carlos Gomez with a pitch, then surrendered a single to Mallex Smith, loading the bases. Johnny Field cut the lead to 5-4, doubling into left field to clear the bases.

The ninth inning overshadowed a brilliant outing from Leake, who flirted with a complete game. For the second time in three starts, he pitched eight complete innings, but few pitchers get the chance to close out their own start. So when Servais let him start the ninth, he was the first player out of the dugout in between innings.

“Yeah, I wanted it,” he said. “But it’s part of the game.”

Leake, who was credited with eight innings, allowed two runs on eight hits with one walk and three strikeouts and improved to 6-3. Over his past four starts, he’s 3-0 with a 1.82 ERA. In 29 1/3 innings, he has one walk and 16 strikeouts. He worked fast and with rhythm, and benefited from solid defense.

The Mariners loaded the bases and forced the Rays’ “opener,” reliever Ryne Stanek, to throw 30 pitches, but did not score in the first inning. The Mariners made up for the missed opportunities in the second inning. Facing relief pitcher Austin Pruitt, Seattle grabbed a quick 3-0 lead.

Dee Gordon drove in Span with a sacrifice fly, then the Mariners scored two runs on Mitch Haniger’s soft, shift-beating ground ball that barely made it into the outfield. David Freitas was able to score from second, while Jean Segura saw that Rays defenders had been careless with the ball and scored all the way from first.

Seattle tacked on solo homers from Span in the third inning and Haniger in the fifth.