Randy Arozarena homered and drove in four runs and Josh Naylor also went deep as the Seattle Mariners defeated the visiting St. Louis Cardinals 5-3 on Tuesday night in an interleague game.
Five relievers combined for five scoreless innings of two-hit ball, with no walks and seven strikeouts, as the Mariners (77-68) won their fourth in a row and pulled within a game of the division-leading Houston Astros (78-67) in the American League West. Seattle maintained its 1 1/2-game lead over the Texas Rangers (76-70) for the AL’s third and final wild-card berth.
Caleb Ferguson (4-4) earned the victory, and Andres Munoz worked the ninth for his 34th save.
The Cardinals (72-74) lost their second straight and remained 4 1/2 games behind the New York Mets for the third National League wild card.
With Seattle trailing 2-0, Arozarena hit a three-run blast off the facade of the second deck in left field against St. Louis starter Matthew Liberatore (7-12). The Cardinals acquired Liberatore on Jan. 9, 2020, from Tampa Bay in a four-player trade that included Arozarena going to the Rays.
After St. Louis tied the score at 3-3 in the top of the fourth, Naylor hit a solo shot to right-center in the bottom of the inning. The Mariners proceeded to load the bases and Arozarena hit a sacrifice fly to the warning track in right, extending the lead to 5-3.
Mariners starter George Kirby, trying to rebound from the shortest start of his career (two innings vs. the Rays), lasted just four innings. The right-hander gave up three runs on seven hits, with two walks and two strikeouts.
Liberatore also went four innings, allowing five runs on six hits. The lefty walked three and fanned one.
The Cardinals scored twice in the second. Willson Contreras led off with a single and scored on Nolan Gorman’s double just out of the reach of a diving Arozarena in the left field corner. Thomas Saggese then lined a run-scoring single to center to make it 2-0.
St. Louis scored its final run in the fourth on Jose Fermin’s infield single after Saggese drew a one-out walk and advanced to third on Pedro Pages’ single to right.
–Field Level Media
