Takeaways: Mariners again show resilience in victory over Yankees

One trait common to the type of club the Mariners aspire to be is resilience, particularly resilience in the face of disappointment and/or adversity.

The Mariners displayed that quality in force Saturday night, which is what distinguishes their 6-5 victory over the New York Yankees in 10 innings at Safeco Field.

Nelson Cruz delivered the game-winner with an RBI single that scored Ben Gamel from second base for a walk-off victory. Getting to that point was a slip-and-slide trudge up a mountain in front of a sellout crowd.

First, the Mariners built a 4-1 lead against New York starter Masahiro Tanaka, an established nemesis, on the strength of a four-run third inning that included homers from Mike Zunino and Gamel.

It wasn’t enough.

The Yankees clawed back with a run in the fifth inning against lefty starter Ariel Miranda. The gap closed to 4-3 when Aaron Judge hit a homer in the sixth inning against Steve Cishek.

Marc Rzepczynski gave up a squib single in the eighth that led to the tying run, but the Mariners answered with a leadoff homer later in the inning by Robinson Cano. They then just needed three outs from closer Edwin Diaz in the ninth.

Diaz got to within one strike of a victory before yielding a bloop single to Ronald Torreyes that tied the game — after Torreyes barely stayed alive by throwing his bat and nicking the ball on a two-strike pitch.

The Mariners picked themselves up again — and did so while shaking off the added weight of 11 losses in their previous 13 home games overall, and 12 losses in their previous 13 home games against the Yankees.

All walk-off victories are joyous. But this one seemed particularly so as Cruz howled after as he turned after rounding first base and braced for the celebratory scrum charging from the dugout.

Cishek likened it to the July 17 victory in Houston, when the Mariners took a three-run lead, fell behind, surged back ahead, but saw the Astros pull even before homers by Kyle Seager and Danny Valencia produced a 9-7 victory in 10 innings.

Yep, the Mariners have resilience.

They weathered a month-long stretch with four starting pitchers on the disabled list. They’ve clawed back to (nearly) .500 after being eight games under in late May. They’ve steadied after a 2-9 stumble just prior to the All-Star break.

The Mariners, because of their resilience, enter Sunday at 2 1/2 games behind the Yankees and Tampa Bay in the race for one of the American League’s two wild-card berths with 63 games remaining.

The challenge now is to be something more than resilient.

Three takeaways from Saturday’s victory:

***Phelps helps: Right-hander reliever David Phelps, acquired Thursday from Miami, made his Mariners debut by registering two strikeouts and retiring all four batters that he faced.

It was Phelps’ 36th appearance this season of pitching at least one inning without allowing a run. Only Pittsburgh’s Felipe Rivera, with 39, has more.

***Segura in a slide: Shortstop Jean Segura went hitless in five at-bats for a second straight game, which dropped his average to .332. He is still second in the American League batting race but now trails Houston’s Jose Altuve by 20 points.

The impact from a slumping Segura typically has a ripple effect. Saturday marked only the fifth time in 18 games that the Mariners won when he failed to get a hit.

***Dyson banged up: Center fielder Jarrod Dyson slammed into the wall in the fifth inning in an unsuccessful attempt to run down Garrett Cooper’s deep fly ball.

Dyson suffered a hyperextended toe on the play. He finished the inning but didn't return for the sixth. He is likely to miss a few days.

Bob Dutton: @TNT_Mariners

This story was originally published July 23, 2017 at 1:37 AM with the headline "Takeaways: Mariners again show resilience in victory over Yankees."