Kyle Seager lets the Mariners walk off the field winners against Rays

SEATTLE – There aren’t many better ways to extend a consecutive-games played streak.

The first time Kyle Seager stepped into the batter’s box of T-Mobile Park on Thursday night came as a pinch-hitter in a tie game with one out in the bottom of the ninth and the winning run on third base.

After disliking a questionable called strike from home-plate umpire Joe West on an inside fastball from right-hander Pete Fairbanks, Seager jumped all over a 97 mph fastball in the middle of plate, ripping a hard ground ball through the infield that was by second baseman Brandon Lowe and first baseman Ji-Man Choi before they could even think of stopping it.

Jake Bauers raced home with the winning run against his former team while his current teammates spilled out of the dugout to try and tackle Seager in right field to celebrate a 6-5 walkoff win to open a series against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Down 5-4 going into the ninth inning, Dylan Moore worked a walk and Bauers followed with a single to center. After a failed bunt attempt by Luis Torrens, Shed Long Jr. laced a double into left field to score Moore with the tying run.

The victory helped offset the disappointment of losing another starting pitcher to an injury.

Right-hander Justin Dunn exited the game after just two innings pitched with what the team labeled as right-shoulder discomfort.

Dunn pitched two shutout innings, allowing just one hit — a single from Randy Arozarena — and striking out a batter. His fastball was touching 95 mph and he showed no signs of issues on the mound.

But shortly after he walked into the dugout after the top of the second, right-hander J.T. Chargois started warming up quickly with the intent of starting the top of the third.

For at least the fourth time this season, the Mariners will only have five healthy starters for their six-man rotation. Don’t forget, there was that stretch when they only had four healthy starters for the six spots and refused to change from it, instead using a bullpen start in each opening.

With an off day on Monday and another on Thursday and third off day on the upcoming road trip, the Mariners can slot out the rotation to avoid using the bullpen for at least two turns through the rotation. They could possibly only need to make one bullpen until the All-Star break.

Whether that will be enough time for Dunn to get healthy and return before that bullpen start is needed seems unlikely given this would be his second stint on the injured list with shoulder discomfort in the span of three weeks.

After making his scheduled start on May 29, throwing a 5 2/3 innings against Texas and allowing just one run on two hits, Dunn felt some fatigue in his shoulder in the days that followed. Seattle put him on the 10-day injured list, but he was back throwing a few days later. He was activated from the IL on June 11, starting that night vs. Cleveland. He struggled, pitching just three innings and allowing five runs on nine hits with three walks and a strikeout. Dunn said he had no issues with the shoulder after the game but admitted he had some rust from not throwing in a game for 10 days.

After throwing a scoreless third inning and his teammates giving him a 1-0 lead on J.P. Crawford’s RBI single, Chargois was pushed into a second inning of work for the second time in four days. And it didn’t go as well as the last outing. Ji-Man Choi, a one-time Mariners prospect, singled to start the inning and Arozarena crushed an 0-2 slider over the wall in left-center for a 2-1 Tampa lead.

The Rays pushed the lead to 3-1 in the fifth with a run off Rafael Montero, who retired the first two batters on five pitches. But Montero issued a two-out walk to Brett Phillips, who easily stole second and then scored on Brandon Lowe’s single to left.

The Mariners trimmed the deficit to one run when Luis Torrens crushed a solo homer into their bullpen area off Rays starter lefty Rich Hill. It was Torrens second homer since being recalled from Class AAA Tacoma on Monday.

Tampa answered with two runs in the sixth to push the lead to 5-2. Montero gave up a leadoff single to Arozarena and was lifted for lefty Anthony Misiewicz, who promptly allowed a double to the lefty hitting Austin Meadows. The Rays pushed the runs across with a sac fly to center and an infield single from Kevin Kiermaier.

Again, the Mariners were able to get within a run. Ty France, who like Torrens homered in Tuesday’s win over the Twins, crushed a two-run blast into the second tier of Edgar’s Cantina off hanging curveball from Hill that made it 5-4 in the sixth.

Seattle got the tying run on base when Tom Murphy drew a walk off Hill that would end his evening. But after Dylan Moore struck out, Bauers hit a line-drive that was caught by shortstop Taylor Walls, who fired to first to double-off Murphy.

The Mariners asked for a replay review. While multiple replays shown in the stadium and on the television broadcast seemed to show Murphy getting back before Choi caught the throw at first, the replay review upheld the call on the field to end the inning.