Josh Naylor’s three-run double with two outs in the eighth inning helped the Seattle Mariners beat the visiting Colorado Rockies 4-3 Tuesday night, clinching a playoff berth in the process.
Dominic Canzone hit a solo homer for the Mariners (88-69), who won their fifth in a row and prevailed for the 15th time in their past 16 games to capture at least an American League wild-card spot. With five games left, they lead the American League West by four games over the Houston Astros, who lost 5-1 to the Athletics on Tuesday.
The Mariners had just two hits when they trailed 3-1 in the eighth. Pinch hitter Luke Raley was hit by a pitch from Rockies reliever Juan Mejia (2-2) to open the frame, and J.P. Crawford walked.
Mejia then seemed to settle down, getting a called third strike on Randy Arozarena and fanning Cal Raleigh on a check swing before hitting Julio Rodriguez with a pitch to load the bases. The Rockies brought in Victor Vodnik to face Naylor, who lined a 2-0 fastball into the gap in left-center field to clear the bases.
Mariners reliever Gabe Speier (4-3) struck out three in the eighth and Andres Munoz fanned two more in a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his 38th save.
The late rally spoiled what would have been the first major league victory for Rockies starter McCade Brown.
Brown, making just his sixth big-league start for Colorado (43-114), entered the game with an 0-4 record and 9.17 ERA. The right-hander allowed one run on two hits over five innings with two walks and a career-high 10 strikeouts, matching the most by a Rockies pitcher this season.
Mariners starter Bryce Miller was charged with three runs on five hits in 5 2/3 innings. The righty walked one and struck out four.
With the score tied at 1-1, Colorado’s Mickey Moniak led off the sixth with a double to right field. Blaine Crim drew a one-out walk and Jordan Beck flew out to the warning track in center, with both runners tagging and advancing. The Mariners brought in Eduard Bazardo to replace Miller, but the move backfired when Tovar lined a hanging breaking pitch into right field to score Moniak and Crim.
The Rockies opened the scoring in the second as Beck led off with a double to left. Tovar’s sacrifice bunt moved the runner to third and Beck scored when Kyle Karros beat out an infield single up the middle.
Canzone tied it with his solo shot to right with one out in the fifth on a 3-2 slider from Brown.
–Field Level Media
