Jorge Polanco grounded a bases-loaded single into center field with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Seattle Mariners rallied to defeat the visiting Cleveland Guardians 4-3 Saturday night.
Trailing 3-2 heading into the bottom of the ninth against Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase (4-1), Dominic Canzone lined a leadoff single to right. Pinch-runner Dylan Moore stole second and pinch-hitter Miles Mastrobuoni walked before rookie Cole Young advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt. The Guardians intentionally walked J.P. Crawford to load the bases. But Moore raced home on a wild pitch to tie the score.
Clase struck out Julio Rodriguez before an intentional walk to Cal Raleigh re-loaded the bases. Polanco grounded a 1-1 cutter up the middle as the Mariners won for just the third time in their past 11 games.
Jose Ramirez homered for the Guardians, who lost for the seventh time in their past nine. Clase blew his third save opportunity of the season.
Mariners reliever Jackson Kowar (1-0) got the victory.
Trailing 2-0, the Guardians scored single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to take the lead.
With one out in the fourth, Carlos Santana and Daniel Schneemann singled. Nolan Jones lined a two-out double to left-center field to score Santana.
Ramirez tied it with two outs in the fifth, curling a shot around the right-field foul pole off Mariners starter George Kirby.
The Guardians took the lead in the sixth off reliever Gabe Speier. Schneemann led off with an infield single and advanced to third on Jones’ one-out single to right. A two-out wild pitch by Speier allowed the go-ahead run to score.
The Mariners got off to a strong start as Crawford led off the bottom of the first with a single to right, stole second and took third on Rodriguez’s bloop single to center. Raleigh doubled off the right-field wall to open the scoring and Polanco hit a sacrifice fly to center to make it 2-0.
Both starters went five innings.
Cleveland right-hander Tanner Bibee allowed two runs on four hits with three walks and three strikeouts.
Kirby gave up two runs on five hits. The right-hander walked three and struck out five.
–Field Level Media
