Randy Arozarena singled home the winning run with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Seattle Mariners avoided a fourth straight extra-inning game by defeating the visiting Minnesota Twins 2-1 on Sunday afternoon.
Julio Rodriguez led off the bottom of the ninth with an infield single. After Cal Raleigh struck out, Rodriguez stole second and advanced to third as catcher Ryan Jeffers’ throw sailed into center field.
With the infield drawn in, Arozarena grounded a single up the middle off Griffin Jax (1-3) to give Seattle a second straight walk-off victory.
The Twins tied the score in the top of the inning as Kody Clemens drew a one-out walk and former Mariner Ty France grounded a single to left. The runners advanced on a wild pitch and Clemens scored on Harrison Bader’s sacrifice fly to center.
The Twins tied the score in the ninth inning in all three games of the series.
Mariners closer Andres Munoz (2-0) got the victory after blowing a second consecutive save opportunity, while Raleigh hit his MLB-leading 23rd home run of the season.
With one out in the seventh, Raleigh lined a first-pitch curveball just below the strike zone over the wall in the right-field corner off Minnesota starter Chris Paddack.
It was Raleigh’s third consecutive game with a home run and his fourth in the three-game series against the Twins. He has six homers over the past six games.
The Twins threatened in the eighth as Brooks Lee grounded a leadoff single to left and Matt Wallner was hit by a two-out pitch. Matt Brash, however, struck out clean-up hitter Carlos Correa to get out of the jam.
The Twins put runners on base in each of the first five innings against Seattle starter Luis Castillo but failed to capitalize.
Castillo made his fourth consecutive quality start with six scoreless innings. The right-hander gave up four hits, walked two and struck out five, throwing 97 pitches.
Paddack retired the side in order in each of the first three innings before J.P. Crawford lined a leadoff single to left in the fourth. Rodriguez walked with one out, but Paddack struck out Raleigh and got Arozarena to ground out to second to get out of the frame.
Paddack retired the side in both the fifth and sixth before Raleigh went deep in the seventh.
Paddack pitched eight innings and gave up the lone run on four hits. He walked one and struck out a season-high 10 batters.
–Field Level Media
