Mariners Game Recap: M’s Hang on to Win 6-4; Dodge Sweep

The Mariners hold on to defeat the Rays 6-4 despite leaving 10 men on base.

After scoring first, and later falling to the Rays in games one and two, the Mariners yet again jumped out in front early. In the top of the first, the Mariners scored 3 off of Rays starter Blake Snell with four singles and a Tampa Bay error.

Meanwhile, James Paxton pitched a scoreless first and second inning despite walking a pair in the second. In the bottom of the third he allowed two runs to score on three straight singles and a groundout from Logan Morrison to cut the Mariners lead to 3-2.

The M’s came out in the top of the fourth and loaded the bases with one out. After the Rays brought in Ryan Garton to replace Snell who had already thrown 92 pitches. Nelson Cruz struck out to make it two outs, but Dae-ho Lee came up clutch and ripped a 2 RBI double to right field to extend the M’s lead to 5-2 before a Chris Iannetta strikeout ended the inning.

More from Mariners News

• 2023 Steamer Projections: Teoscar Hernandez could see a drop in Seattle
• Steamer Projections: Julio Rodriguez to enter rarified air in 2023
• What if the Mariners traded FOR Tyler O’Neill this time?
• Mariners starting pitching is being overlooked by MLB
• Baking the Cake: An Adjusted Mariners Offseason Plan

In the bottom half of the fourth, Taylor Motter led off with a double off Paxton. The next batter, Jeff Decker, flew out to left field. Motter tagged at second and tried to advance to third, and Aoki threw out Motter at third according to the call on the field. But the Rays challenged the play at third and the umpire crew determined that the runner was safe. A groundout to Marte at short drove in the run before the fourth came to a close. Through four innings, Paxton’s pitch count was already up to 78 with a thin bullpen to work with.

All was quiet on the offensive front in the fifth and sixth innings as both team’s pitching worked out of jams. Paxton threw 105 pitches (throwing at least 100 pitches in all four of his starts this year) through six innings and was replaced by the flame throwing youngster, Edwin Diaz in the seventh. Diaz worked out of a runners on the corners with one out jam to keep it a 5-3 game heading into the eighth.

More from SoDo Mojo

• 2023 Steamer Projections: Teoscar Hernandez could see a drop in Seattle
• Could the Mariners Acquire AL Batting Champion, Luis Arraez?
• Steamer Projections: Julio Rodriguez to enter rarified air in 2023
• What if the Mariners traded FOR Tyler O’Neill this time?
• Mariners starting pitching is being overlooked by MLB

After another scoreless inning from the Mariners offense, Joaquin Benoit came out to pitch the bottom of the eighth. After striking out the leadoff batter, two singles, a groundout and a walk created a bases loaded with two out dilemma. Brad Miller singled to cut the Mariner lead to 5-4 before Benoit struck out Steve Pearce to end the threat.

Going into the ninth inning, the M’s were desperately in need of some insurance runs. With two outs, Kyle Seager slugged a solo homerun, which despite being reviewed, was upheld to extend the lead to 6-4 before Steve Cishek came out and threw a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth to record his 15th save of the year.

Despite hanging on to win the ballgame 6-4, the M’s still had a ton of missed opportunities. They finished the game leaving 10 men on base and going just 4-13 with runners in scoring position. The only thing that gave us the edge was the Rays hitting an even worse, 3-15 with RISP and leaving 11 men on base.

Next: M's lose on walk-off walk in extras

After defeating the Rays, the Mariners (35-31) will head to Boston tomorrow to begin a 3-game series. The co-first place Red Sox (37-27) will send former Mariner Roenis Elias (0-0, 16.20) to the mound, as the M’s will look to Hisashi Iwakuma (5-5, 4.10) to take game one of the series.