Mariners Game Recap: M’s Literally Beat Themselves on Saturday Night

The Mariners fall to the Twins after an epic game-ending double play.

The Minnesota Twins (14-34) squeaked out a 6-5 victory against the Seattle Mariners (28-20) on Saturday night at Safeco Field. Ryan Pressly (2-3, 4.71 ERA) was credited with the win for the visiting Twins, and Nick Vincent (2-2, 2.45 ERA) was saddled with the defeat for Seattle. Kevin Jepsen picked up his 5th save of the season after a tumultuous 9th inning.

It was not a great outing for Wade Miley this evening. The Mariners starting pitcher was roughed up early and often, allowing 5 runs on 6 hits through 4 innings of work. Remarkably, the 29-year-old southpaw surrendered 3 home runs. Miley struck out 6 Twins, but issued 4 free passes. To put it simply, Miley was wildly ineffective tonight.

The Twinkies got the scoring started early, plating a pair of runs in the top of the 1st inning. Miley retired the first two men he faced, but Joe Mauer ripped a single to right field to keep the inning alive. Miguel Sano is one of the strongest men in baseball, and he demonstrated it tonight. The Twins right fielder absolutely destroyed a hanging breaking ball, depositing it into the upper deck in left field for a 2-run homer.

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Seattle managed to tie the game by the bottom of the 2nd inning. Nori Aoki led off the game by slugging a solo home run, his first in a Mariner uniform. The M’s loaded the bases with none out in the 2nd, and Steve Clevenger tied the game after grounding into a double play.

The two sides remained deadlocked at 2 until the home half of the 4th inning. Franklin Gutierrez opened the frame with a single to center field. Guti advanced to second base on a passed ball, and trotted home to score on a Clevenger single. The Mariners backstop advanced to second base on a throwing error, and moved up to third base on a Luis Sardinas sacrifice bunt. Aoki collected his second RBI of the game when he singled home Clevenger to give Seattle a 4-2 lead.

Unfortunately, the M’s edge was short-lived as Minnesota took the lead in the top of the 5th. Eduardo Nunez homered leading off the inning to make it a 4-3 game. Miley then walked Brian Dozier and served up a 2-run dinger to Mauer. The star first baseman’s 5th round-tripper of the year gave Minnesota a 5-4 lead.

Luis Sardinas knotted the score at 5 in the bottom of the 6th inning. The Mariners slender shortstop connected on a solo home run, just the second homer of his career.

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Once again the Mariners failed to sustain their momentum, this time allowing the Twins to retake the lead in the 7th. Nunez kicked the rally off with a single through the right side of the infield, and Mauer nursed a 1-out walk to put runners on first and second. Sano came through in the clutch, scoring Nunez on a seeing eye single that just evaded a diving Sardinas at shortstop.

Things took an interesting turn in the home half of the 9th inning. Nelson Cruz worked a leadoff walk to give the Mariners’ faithful hope. Shawn O’Malley was called on to pinch run, and he advanced to third base on a Kyle Seager single. Seager’s single gave Seattle runners on the corners with none out. Dae-ho Lee lofted a fly ball to right field, but the ball was not hit deep enough to score O’Malley.

This is where the inning went sideways. With Guti at the plate, Seager got caught in a rundown between first and second after attempting to steal following a past ball. While Seags was running back towards first base, O’Malley began dancing off third. Dozier spotted this and fired the ball to Nunez at third base. O’Malley was tagged out in a close play, and Nunez then wheeled and tossed the ball to second in time to get a sliding Seager for the final out of the game. The play was reviewed, but the outs were upheld and the Mariners lost. Totally crazy way to end a ballgame.

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Up next for the Mariners is the series finale with the Minnesota Twins on Sunday afternoon at Safeco Field in Seattle. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 pm from the corner of Edgar & Dave. Taijuan Walker (2-4, 2.70 ERA) will hope to bounce back after back-to-back poor outings for the Mariners, and Ricky Nolasco (1-3, 5.54 ERA) will be on the bump for the Twins.