Julio Rodriguez hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the sixth to lift the Seattle Mariners to a 5-3 victory over the host Cleveland Guardians on Friday.
Rodriguez went 2-for-5 with two RBIs and a run, while J.P. Crawford went 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs for the Mariners, who won for just the second time in their past seven games.
Josh Naylor went 2-for-4 and Josh Bell and Myles Straw each had RBI singles for the Guardians.
Trailing 3-2, the Mariners took the lead for good in the sixth.
After Kolten Wong struck out, Jarred Kelenic doubled and took third on a wild pitch, and Cooper Hummel struck out. But Crawford followed with a double to center that scored Kelenic, causing starter Aaron Civale to be relieved by Nick Sandlin.
Seven pitches later, Rodriguez blasted a two-run shot over the left-center fence for a 5-3 lead.
While Seattle starter Logan Gilbert wasn’t sharp, allowing three runs on six hits with six strikeouts and two walks in just four innings, the Mariners’ bullpen was outstanding for the final five innings.
Penn Murfee, Trevor Gott, Matt Brash, Andres Munoz and Paul Sewald allowed a combined one hit the rest of the way to go along with seven strikeouts and a walk. Murfee (1-1) picked up the win by pitching a scoreless fifth, while Sewald pitched a perfect ninth inning for his first save of the season.
Civale (1-1) allowed four runs on nine hits with five strikeouts and a walk in 5 2/3 innings.
After the Guardians took a 1-0 lead in the first inning following Gilbert’s wild pitch with the bases loaded that scored Amed Rosario, Cleveland doubled its advantage in the third inning on Bell’s run-scoring single to right.
Cleveland pushed its lead to 3-0 in the fourth when Andres Gimenez scored on Straw’s single to left.
Seattle pulled to within 3-2 in its next at-bat on Crawford’s RBI double and Ty France’s run-scoring single.
–Field Level Media