Homers by Franklin Gutierrez and Dae-Ho Lee power Mariners’ victory
SEATTLE – The roll continues for the Mariners after holding on Tuesday for a 6-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays at Safeco Field.
Franklin Gutierrez and Dae-Ho Lee hit home runs that keyed a pair of three-run innings. And that proved enough for the Mariners to reach 20 victories through 33 games for the first time in 13 years.
Gutierrez’s two-run shot highlighted a three-run first inning against Rays starter Drew Smyly and, after two homers by Steve Pearce closed the gap to 3-2, Lee hit a three-run floater in the fourth inning.
The Mariners got nothing more, which meant they had to squirm their way through the final innings before Steve Cishek got the final four outs for his 11th save in 12 chances.
Mariners starter Wade Miley carried a 6-2 lead into the sixth inning and had retired every batter except Pearce, who had those two home runs.
A leadoff walk to Curt Casali, the No. 9 hitter, led to trouble when Brandon Guyer followed with a line-hugging double to left.
Ex-Mariner Brad Miller struck out on three pitches, but Evan Longoria, with the infield conceding a run, hit an RBI grounder to short. Miley then finally retired Pearce, on a grounder to second.
When Miley (3-2) started the seventh inning by yielding his third homer of the game, this one to Steven Souza, the Mariners went to the bullpen for Nick Vincent, who got two outs before issuing a walk.
Vidal Nuno got the final out in the seventh. Joel Peralta sandwiched two strikeouts around a one-out single in the eighth before manager Scott Servais went to Cishek, who walked Pearce.
Souza then hit a deep slicing fly to right that Nelson Cruz ran down with a sliding catch just inside the line. Cishek then pitched around a leadoff single in the ninth.
The Mariners jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning against Smyly (1-4) on Gutierrez’s first homer of the season — a 402-foot drive to right-center field after Ketel Marte’s leadoff single.
The chance for a big inning beckoned when Robinson Cano singled and went to third in Cruz’s double into the left-field corner. But the Mariners settled for just one more run.
Kyle Seager hit a sacrifice fly with one out, although Smyly was initially called for a two-out balk with Cruz at third. An umpire’s conference reversed the call, and Lee struck out.
The Rays immediately got one run back when Pearce opened the second inning with a homer that stayed just fair down the left-field line.
Pearce made it 3-2 with a two-out homer in the fourth — on an 0-2 count — for his fourth career multi-homer game. No other Tampa Bay player reached base through four innings against Miley.
Smyly had retired nine in a row when Chris Iannetta started the Mariners fourth with a single. Seager followed with a single that extended his hitting streak to 11 games.
Lee then sliced a 1-2 cutter to right that kept going — 363 feet for a three-run homer and a 6-2 lead. It was Lee’s fifth homer in 44 at-bats.
PLAY OF THE GAME: Dae-Ho Lee appeared fooled on a 1-2 cutter from Tampa Bay starter Drew Smyly in the fourth inning. Lee seemed to merely flick at the ball.
It cleared the right-field wall. Easily. For a three-run homer.
PLUS: Ketel Marte followed up his 4-for-5 effort on Monday by getting two more hits…Robinson Cano also had two more hits and raised his average to .307…Nelson Cruz had two hits and a two-out catch in the right with two runners on base in the eighth inning.
MINUS: Luis Sardinas was hitless over three at-bats in his first start since May 1…
STAT PACK: Kyle Seager extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a single in the fourth inning…ex-Mariners shortstop Brad Miller was 1-for-4.
SHORT HOPS: Home-plate umpire Jerry Layne initially called a run-scoring balk with two outs in the first inning on Tampa Bay pitcher Drew Smyly, who believed time had been called. After the umpires huddled, Layne reversed the call. The Mariners stranded the runner at third.