Mariners snap skid, enter All-Star break on high note

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Mariners’ first hit with a runner in scoring position since Tuesday didn’t provide immediate relief, joyous satisfaction or even a run.

Following Josh Naylor’s leadoff single to start the second and a walk from Mitch Garver, Cole Young, who has been the Mariners’ most productive hitter of late, punched a crisp single to right field off Rays starter Ian Seymour.

But given its trajectory and, well, the unfast running of Naylor, it only loaded the bases.

Fittingly, the hit that snapped an 0-for-27 streak with runners in scoring position couldn’t give the Mariners a run.

When Victor Robles followed with a sinking line drive to center field that was caught on a diving grab by Cedric Mullins, it allowed Naylor to tag up and score. But it also felt like a meaningful run-scoring base hit might never come for the Mariners.

That is, until later in the inning when J.P. Crawford notched the side’s second hit of the game with runners in scoring position. With the bases loaded, Crawford dumped a looping fly ball into short left field that scored a pair of runs.

In the dugout, players cheered and celebrated a little more emphatically than usual, and Crawford looked to the sky with his hands raised as he stood on second. It was a catharsis for a frustrated team that had failed far too often situationally and had struggled to score multiple runs in an inning for the entire road trip and long stretches this season.

What felt like a breakthrough led to more runs and eventually an 8-2 victory Sunday afternoon at Tropicana Field.

“We’re grinding and I think when someone steps up and gets a big hit you feel like you can just take a breath,” said starter Emerson Hancock. “You’re out there and you’re playing with freedom, you’re just playing and it’s fun again and loose.”

The Mariners snapped a five-game losing streak on this six-game Florida road trip while ending the first “half” of the season with a victory. They go into the All-Star break with a 48-49 record. They will return to action on Friday night at T-Mobile Park when they open a three-game series vs. the San Francisco Giants.

“It was a tough road trip from beginning to end, but a good way to end it,” manager Dan Wilson said. “This is a day that can be tricky, but our guys continued to push and they understood how important it was to continue to fight today. They went out there and they did it. They executed, they took good at-bats and drove in the runs when we needed to drive them in. That’s something that we haven’t been able to do.”

Once the dam had been broken, the Mariners added four more runs in the fourth inning via the long ball.

Weston Wilson smacked a solo homer with one out in the fourth inning to end Seymour’s outing. The Mariners continued to pile up baserunners and move them into scoring position. Buddy Kennedy reached on an error and Crawford singled to right field to bring Randy Arozarena to the plate. The former Ray, who received cheers from fans all weekend, sent a fly ball over the wall in right center for his 11th homer of the season. The three-run blast made it 7-0.

“Just really good at-bats,” Wilson said. “I thought we took a really good approach off Seymour, stuck to it and put a lot of traffic out there and then we got them in. It’s a day that, you know, we can build on, for sure.”

In the top of the ninth, Kennedy doubled to left with one out and Crawford picked up another hit, doubling to right to drive in another run. After seeing multiple hits taken away by strong defensive plays, Crawford finished the day 3-for-4 with a walk and three RBIs.

But the game wasn’t just about offense.

It was a total team effort with what amounted to a bullpen day for the pitching staff after Hancock was forced to leave the game in the second inning with a right-hand contusion. The Mariners used five relievers to get through the rest of the game, allowing only two runs on four hits.

“You talk about a team effort from top to bottom today, that’s what it was,” Wilson said. “With Emerson exiting early, we really had to rely on the bullpen here for a lot of innings, and they all delivered. I thought they all threw the ball extremely well, and got us where we needed to go.”

On Hancock’s first pitch of the game, Yandy Diaz hit a hard one-hopper back to the left side of the mound. Hancock instinctively stuck out his bare right hand trying to catch it. The ball hit off his palm and landed behind him. While he was able to scramble to the ball and fire to first to get Diaz, there would be consequences.

While Hancock would remain in the game and retire the next two batters to finish the first, he was unable to finish the second inning. He was removed with two outs after walking Victor Mesa Jr.

Hancock underwent X-rays, which came back negative. He has a bruise on the top part of his palm and his middle finger.

Jose A. Ferrer entered the game as an injury replacement and needed one pitch to end the second. He would work another scoreless inning.

Nick Davila followed with two scoreless frames, while Gabe Speier and Michael Rucker, who both allowed runs in their appearances on Saturday, followed with scoreless innings of work.

The Rays’ only runs came in the eighth on Jonathan Aranda’s two-run homer off Eduard Bazardo.

Andrés Muñoz worked a scoreless ninth to close it out.

Pitching plans

Wilson wasn’t ready to announce how his rotation would slot out when the team comes out of the All-Star break and opens the second half with a three-game series vs. the Giants at T-Mobile Park.

“We’re continuing to discuss that and will probably have that ironed out later today,” Wilson said.

Presumably, the Mariners informed the starters of their rotation slots before Sunday’s series finale in Tampa so they could adjust their All-Star break plans accordingly. Almost all planned to throw at least one bullpen during the break if not two.

Of course, the big question is whether they will use a six-man rotation or the piggyback strategy coming out of the break.

“We’re looking at all different kinds of options and trying to figure that out so that we’re ready to roll once we get out of it,” Wilson said.

None of those discussed options include moving a starter to a full bullpen role for the second half.