Mariners Game Recap: Prince Tai Slays the Giants in Series Opener

The Seattle Mariners (29-35) took down the defending World Series Champs, beating the San Francisco Giants (34-31) 5-1 on Tuesday night at AT&T Park. Taijuan Walker (4-6, 5.00 ERA) turned in another strong outing to earn his 4th win of the season. Tim Hudson (4-6, 4.65 ERA) was credited with the loss after failing to escape the 6th inning.

Prince Tai was electric once again on Monday night in SanFran, hurling 7 innings of 1-run ball. The Giants did tally 7 hits against the imposing right-hander, but just 1 was for extra-bases. Walker did a great job limiting mistakes, and finished with a 6:0 strikeout to walk ratio. Tai struggled out of the gate, but caught on fire in the middle innings tonight, retiring 11 in a row at one point.

The transformation of Taijuan Walker in 2015 has been incredible. After dazzling this spring in Arizona, the 22-year-old looked overmatched for the first 2 months of the season. However, he sports a 3-1 record with a 1.55 ERA over his last 4 outings. Prince Tai’s starts over the last 2 weeks serve as a beacon of hope in an otherwise dismal stretch of Mariners’ baseball.

Mark Lowe struck out 2 Giants in a perfect 8th inning. Lowe has been a pleasant surprise for Seattle in 2015, and now has 4 holds this season. Charlie Furbush breezed through the 9th inning to preserve the M’s win.

Seattle chased Tim Hudson in the 6th inning after he allowed the first 2 men to reach. The veteran right-hander allowed 3 runs on 8 hits across 5 innings of work. Hudson struck out 3 and walked 1 this evening. It is fair to say Hudson did not have his best stuff tonight, but 55 of his 87 pitches did manage to find the zone. He was in trouble for most of the game, but did a nice job avoiding the “big” inning.

Yusmeiro Petit did a wonderful job picking up his starter tonight for the Giants. Petit entered the game with runners on first and second with none out. He retired the next 3 Mariners in order to keep it a 2-run game. Petit also pitched a perfect 7th to give San Francisco a chance.

Jun 15, 2015; San Francisco, CA, USA; Seattle Mariners center fielder Austin Jackson (16) grounded into a fielder

Nelson Cruz opened the scoring for the Mariners in the top of the 1st inning with an RBI ground out to second base. The M’s added to their lead in the 5th when Logan Morrison singled home Brad Miller. Austin Jackson followed with an RBI groundout to make it 3-1. Kyle Seager added an insurance run in the 8th when he deposited a Jeremy Affeldt pitch into the seats in right field. Austin Jackson put the game out of reach in the 9th when he came through with a 2-out RBI single to center field.

The Giants had trouble generating consistent offense all night, and managed to only push 1 run across. Nori Aoki finished 1 for 4, and was responsible for the lone San Francisco run. Angel Pagan and Brandon Crawford were the only Giants to record multiple hits.

Logan Morrison had another nice night at the dish for Seattle, going 3 for 5 with an RBI, a stolen base and 2 runs scored. LoMo entered tonight’s game hitting .316 with 2 home runs and 8 RBI’s over his last 20 games. Austin Jackson came through with 2 hits and 2 RBI’s tonight for Seattle. AJ entered play hitting .324 with 1 home run and 5 RBI’s over his last 17 contests. The M’s would be in even deeper trouble than they already are without the recent contributions from these 2 players. Both of them deserve a pat on the back after tonight’s strong showing.

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The Mariners were able to keep pace in the American League West with the win tonight. The M’s remain in 4th place, 7.5 games back of the division leading Houston Astros.

The San Francisco Giants (34-31) have now lost 9 in a row at home, and the Seattle Mariners (29-35) will try and extend that streak to 10 on Tuesday afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 12:45 pm from AT&T Park in the city that put Rice-A-Roni on the map. J.A. Happ (3-3, 3.72 ERA) was roughed up his last time out, but he will look to put it behind him when he toes the rubber tomorrow for the Mariners. Former Cy Young winner and Seattle native, Tim Lincecum (6-3, 3.33 ERA) will get the ball for the Giants on Tuesday. Root Sports Northwest will televise the game live locally, and MLB.tv subscribers can watch on connected devices.

Next: Mariners Minor League Report: Who's Hot & Who's Not

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