Pinch hitter Wilmer Flores drove in Luis Matos from second base with a two-out, walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning Sunday afternoon, allowing the San Francisco Giants to beat the visiting Seattle Mariners 5-4 to complete a three-game interleague sweep.
Flores’ hit came on the first pitch after one of the more unusual plays of the young season, one in which Mariners right fielder Victor Robles injured his arm severely enough that he had to be carted off the field.
After Gregory Santos (0-1) walked Mike Yastrzemski to lead off the ninth, Matos followed with a fielder’s choice grounder. Patrick Bailey then hit a deep fly into the right field corner that Robles caught while jumping into the netting that protects fans in foul territory.
As Robles bounced off the netting and fell to the ground in pain, the ball trickled out of his glove, allowing Ramos to race to third.
As a cart was being called to help Robles to the locker room, the Giants challenged the catch — the call was confirmed — while the Mariners also challenged Ramos’ two-base advancement, claiming that Robles had fallen out of play, which permits just a one-base advance.
The Mariners won their appeal, which turned out to be meaningless when Flores grounded his game-ending single into right-center to give the Giants a seventh straight win.
Seattle had extended the game to the bottom of the ninth when Randy Arozarena’s two-out double in the top of the inning scored Robles with the tying run.
One batter later, Camilo Doval (1-0) retired Mitch Garver on a pop fly with the bases loaded, preserving the tie. Doval pitched the ninth to earn the win despite blowing a save.
Mariners starter Bryan Woo took a one-hitter and 2-0 lead to the fourth before singles by Willy Adames and Jung Hoo Lee set the stage for an RBI single by Heliot Ramos.
Yastrzemski then launched Woo’s next pitch into the bleachers in left-center field for a three-run homer, his first of the season, giving the Giants a 4-2 lead.
Woo completed six innings, charged with those four runs on five hits. He walked one and struck out six.
The Mariners got within 4-3 in the sixth on an RBI single by Ryan Bliss.
Seattle’s first two runs were the product of solo home runs by Julio Rodriguez, his third, and Cal Raleigh, his second, both off Giants starter Jordan Hicks. The right-hander allowed three runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings, with one walk and five strikeouts.
Lee had a double and a single for the Giants, who were outhit 11-7.
Raleigh collected a single and double to go with his home run for Seattle. Robles had two hits.
–Field Level Media
