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Seattle Mariners

Cardinals rally for 5 in 9th to stun Mariners 5-2

St. Louis Cardinals' Tommy Edman, center, is congratulated by Dexter Fowler (25) and Tyler O'Neill after his three-run home run against the Seattle Mariners during the ninth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, July 3, 2019, in Seattle. (Elaine Thompson / AP)
By Tim Booth Associated Press

SEATTLE – Tommy Edman capped St. Louis’ big ninth inning with a two-out, three-run home run as the Cardinals rallied for five runs to beat the Seattle Mariners 5-2 on Wednesday night.

St. Louis entered the ninth trailing 2-0 after a masterful performance from Seattle starter Mike Leake, who threw 7 2/3 shutout innings against his former team for the first time. But Seattle’s bullpen imploded and the Cardinals took full advantage of the meltdown.

Austin Adams (1-1) got the final out of the eighth in relief of Leake but struggled in the ninth allowing two singles and a walk to load the bases with one out. Roenis Elias took over and was greeted by an RBI single from Dexter Fowler to cut the deficit to 2-1. Yadier Molina followed with a sacrifice fly to left field to score Paul Goldschmidt with the tying run, beating Dylan Moore’s throw to the plate.

Edman came up as a pinch-hitter for Kolten Wong, and hit his third home run and first from the right side of the plate.

John Brebbia (2-3) pitched 2 1/3 innings of relief and struck out six. Andrew Miller struck out the first two batters of the ninth and Carlos Martinez got the final out.

The late rally ruined Leake’s chance at a win in his first start against the Cardinals since being traded to Seattle during the 2017 season. Leake struck out seven and retired 11 straight at one point. It was the kind of outing that could raise interest from contenders looking to add an arm to their pitching rotation ahead of the July 31 trade deadline.

Leake had allowed 11 earned runs in his previous two starts, but the outing was more what he showed in late May and early June where Leake had four consecutive starts of at least seven innings and three earned runs or less.

St. Louis starter Adam Wainwright kept the Mariners in check but a high pitch count ended his night early. Wainwright was lifted after 101 pitched following Domingo Santana’s single leading off the sixth inning. Santana later scored on a wild pitch. Moore’s hit a solo homer off Wainwright in the fifth inning.