Josh Naylor and Julio Rodriguez homered and George Kirby pitched six quality innings as the Seattle Mariners defeated the visiting Chicago White Sox 8-6 on Wednesday.
Naylor hit a two-run shot in the first inning and Rodriguez added a three-run blast in a five-run second as the Mariners built an early 7-1 lead. Seattle improved to 5-1 on its 10-game homestand and will try to sweep the three-game series with the White Sox on Thursday afternoon.
Mike Tauchman, Lenyn Sosa and Michael A. Taylor homered for Chicago, which took its third straight loss after winning 10 of its first 14 after the All-Star break.
Kirby (7-5) allowed two runs on five hits to win his third straight start and improve to 6-1 in his past seven outings. The right-hander walked two and struck out nine.
Andres Munoz worked the ninth for his 26th save.
White Sox starter Jonathan Cannon (4-9) lasted just 1 2/3 innings. The righty gave up seven runs on four hits, walked three and fanned one.
Naylor hit a 450-foot shot into the second deck in right field in the first after Cal Raleigh drew a walk.
The White Sox got a run back in the second after Luis Robert Jr. singled, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by catcher Raleigh. Curtis Mead lined a run-scoring single to right.
In the bottom of the inning, a J.P. Crawford single was sandwiched by walks to Dominic Canzone and Randy Arozarena to load the bases for Raleigh, who lined a two-run single to right. Rodriguez followed with a 434-foot blast high off the out-of-town scoreboard beyond the Mariners’ bullpen in left-center.
Chicago’s Brooks Baldwin led off the third with a single and took second on a wild pitch. He scored on Andrew Benintendi’s one-out single to right to make it 7-2.
The score stayed that way until the seventh, when Taylor greeted reliever Eduard Bazardo with a leadoff double. An out later, Tauchman and Sosa hit back-to-back homers, both to center, to pull the White Sox within 7-5.
The Mariners responded in the bottom of the frame as a one-out walk to Rodriguez was followed by a single from Naylor and Eugenio Suarez’s sacrifice fly to center.
Taylor went deep to right-center off Munoz leading off the ninth for the game’s final run.
–Field Level Media
