Mariners Game Recap: Iannetta, Walker lead the M’s past Cleveland 5-0

The offense came through and the starting pitching shined once again on Wednesday night, when the Mariners knocked off the Indians to clinch at least a series tie.

Going into Wednesday night’s matchup, Taijuan Walker (2-6, 3.94 ERA) had been going through a tough stretch of starts. After earning wins in his first two of the year, he went on to lose six of his next seven decisions through the beginning of June. He had to take the mound tonight, facing off against Carlos Carrasco (2-0, 3.00 ERA), who has been solid for the Indians so far this year.

Right out of the gates, Walker looked to be on his game, setting the Indians down in order through three innings.

The Mariners yet again were first on the scoreboard, with Chris Iannetta hitting a two-run home run just out of the reach of left fielder Rajai Davis to give his team an early 2-0 edge.

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Walker finally ran into some trouble in the top of the fourth inning. Davis and Jason Kipnis both reached base with singles to start out the inning. Though Walker was able to orchestrate two flyouts after this, more problems came when he was called for a balk, sending the two runners to second and third. This didn’t phase the young flamethrower, as he was able to finish off Lonnie Chisenhall with his sixth strikeout of the night.

From this point forward, it was smooth sailing for Walker, who racked up 11 K’s over eight innings pitched, giving up only three hits.

The Mariners offense was anything but calm the rest of the night. Chris Iannetta homered for a second time in the fifth inning, this time a no-doubter that climbed several rows into the left field bleachers. He then struck again in the seventh, hitting a hard line drive over the head of center fielder Tyler Naquin, which brought in yet another run. This made the score 4-0.

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The Mariners were able to add another insurance run in the eighth inning on a RBI groundout by Kyle Seager to make it 5-0.

Besides Iannetta, both Robinson Cano and Ketel Marte were able to earn two hits on the night. Cano’s double in the eighth inning contributed to the run coming across.

After Walker put the finishing touches on his gem, Nick Vincent took over to close out the game in the ninth. Vincent set down the Indians with relative ease, with the only baserunner coming off a hit by pitch with two outs.

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The win moves the Mariners back to seven games above .500 at 33-26, while the Indians fell to 32-26. With the Rangers losing 3-1 to the Astros, the M’s move back to within three games of first place in the AL West.