MINNEAPOLIS – From left field, Mike Carp looked around and saw fellow rookies at third base, shortstop, second base, and center field for the Seattle Mariners.
Alex Liddi, Kyle Seager, Dustin Ackley and Trayvon Robinson make up the promising future for the Seattle Mariners, and on Tuesday night they helped provide a pleasant present, too.
Mike Carp had five hits, Liddi hit his second career homer for Seattle and the Mariners beat the Twins 5-4 Tuesday night to send the Twins to their 10th straight loss. Minnesota hadn’t had a 10-game losing streak since September 1998.
Adam Kennedy hit a tiebreaking infield single in the seventh inning and Jason Vargas (9-13) pitched six innings, allowing nine hits and four runs, though only three were earned.
“We want to finish strong,” Carp said. “We want to show Seattle what we have coming into next year.”
The Twins loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth against Brandon League, but he managed to convert his 35th save in 40 chances on a strikeout and pair of groundouts.
“I don’t know if you can get in more of a jam than that, bases loaded up by one,” League said. “It doesn’t get any more tight than that.”
Rene Tosoni and Ben Revere led off the ninth with back-to-back singles. Trevor Plouffe laid down a sacrifice bunt, but League wasn’t able to corral the ball immediately and threw low to first base, leaving all three runners safe.
League recovered to strike out Michael Cuddyer and got Chris Parmelee to bounce into a fielder’s choice at home. Danny Valencia ended the game with a groundout to Liddi at third.
“We had our opportunity and we didn’t come up with a hit there at the end,” Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said. “They’re playing infield in and you figured hard contact is going to at least tie the game up, but it didn’t work out for us.”
Brian Duensing (9-14) gave up one run in relief for the Twins.
With a runner at third base against Duensing, Kennedy hit a dribbler to the first-base side of the pitcher’s mound. Duensing dove, but the ball deflected off his glove, allowing Seager to score from third.
Duensing, who was making his third relief appearance since coming back from a strained oblique, pitched 1 innings, giving up two hits and a walk.
Liddi’s two-run homer in the sixth tied the game at 4, providing the chance for Kennedy’s swinging bunt to win it.
“Tremendous value, that’s why you leave them out there; that’s why you want them out there,” Seattle manager Eric Wedge said of the rookies receiving big-league exposure. “That situation there, that’s about as tight as it gets in a big league ballgame. They experienced it and they stepped up to it.”
Carp is handling his biggest opportunity at the major league level well. Still considered a rookie, Carp had appeared in 35 major league games in two previous seasons and was up for 15 games in June. But since recalled July 19 he’s hitting .305 with 11 homers and 44 RBIs. Of his 68 hits, 27 have been for extra bases.
“I’m getting the chance to play now,” Carp said. “ … It’s just getting comfortable, getting used to the major leagues and the pitching and how they’re going to attack me and how I’m going to attack them. It’s been a lot of fun.”
JOIN THE DISCUSSION | Register here
We welcome comments. Please keep them civil, short and to the point. ALL CAPS, spam, obscene, profane, abusive and off topic comments will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be blocked. Thanks for taking part — and abiding by these simple rules. A thorough explanation of rules of conduct can be found in our Terms of Service. If you have any questions, including why your comment may not be showing immediately after you submit it, be sure to visit the commenting FAQ.