No, Gordon, Cano, Cruz, Haniger — no problem. Mariners rally for another extra-innings win
Maybe Jean Segura just wanted a few more seconds to catch his breath at home plate after hustling from first base on Guillermo Heredia’s double in the 10th inning.
But the entire Seattle Mariners dugout had to be collectively thinking – not another injury.
Segura shook it off after his left shoulder collided with catcher Jonathan Lucroy’s shin guard as he dived head-first underneath the tag. And he was then the last out of the Mariners’ dugout for the bottom of the inning.
But Edwin Diaz then locked down the final frame for his 16th save and for the second consecutive game the Mariners had an extra-innings victory, beating the Oakland Athletics, 3-2, on Tuesday at Oakland Coliseum.
“Pitching and defense,” Mariners manager Scott Servais told reporters afterward. “I know we’re built to score a ton of runs, but with the number of guys we have banged up right now, it’s going to be a challenge. We’re going to play a ton of ball games like we did tonight.
“You got to keep pitching and keep executing.”
The Mariners (28-19) improved to a season-high nine games above .500.
Diaz leads the American League in saves, but he just escaped a potential game-tying home run from Marcus Semien, who pulled a would-be home run just a few feet left of the left-field foul pole.
The Mariners were already without Dee Gordon, Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz, and then Mitch Haniger was hit by a pitch in the fourth inning of this one and left by the fifth.
It bears repeating: No Gordon, no Cano, no Cruz, no Haniger.
Oh, and Scott Servais was gone. He was ejected in the top of the ninth after arguing Ben Gamel’s called strike-three to end the frame.
So leave it to Jean Segura and Guillermo Heredia.
Segura led off the 10th with a single and Heredia followed with a double to the right-center gap. Segura wouldn’t have scored if center fielder Dustin Fowler had not bobbled the pick-up attempt, with rain pouring onto the field.
Segura dived just underneath the tag for the go-ahead run.
This was the third time in the Mariners’ past four games that they rallied from a deficit of two runs or greater after the seventh inning to win the game.
Servais said Segura’s left shoulder was still sore after the game.
“Luckily it’s his left shoulder and not his throwing shoulder,” Servais said. “He’s sore and we’ll get some ice on it and hopefully he’s OK (Wednesday).”
Mike Zunino started the comeback with a two-run home run in the top of the seventh inning, his seventh home run of the season. He tattooed it with a 111-mph exit velocity over the left-field wall.
But back to Haniger.
He took a 91-mph sinker off of his left forearm, just above his wrist, from A’s pitcher Trevor Cahill in the top of the fourth inning.
Haniger later left the game. The Mariners announced that X-rays came back negative.
“For him to come out of the game – obviously it bothered him quite a bit,” Servais said. “We’ll see how he is (Wednesday).”
But the Mariners surely have had enough of all these hit-by-pitches. They entered Tuesday tied for the major-league lead in that category with the Chicago Cubs, both with 28 batters hit by pitches.
Haniger was No. 29.
“I don’t think there’s any team that has an outstanding season without getting a lot of guys contributing from Triple-A,” Servais said. “Guys you don’t expect much from.
“Our position players are banged up right now. Understanding that, we know we need to have enough bodies here (Wednesday).”
Mariners starter Mike Leake then plunked A’s No. 9 hitter Mark Canha with two outs in the bottom of the fifth, with Andrew Romine then in right field for Haniger. It seemed to be a clear rebuttal for Cahill hitting Haniger.
Except then Matt Joyce and Marcus Semien followed with singles and Canha scored to give the A’s a 2-0 lead.
Then Zunino’s homer.
After Daniel Vogelbach drew a full-count walk, Zunino smoked a laser-beam full-count home run over the left-field wall for his seventh home run of the season. Tie game.
Vogelbach had been recalled earlier in the day from Triple-A Tacoma to take Gordon’s spot on the roster. Gordon headed to the 10-day disabled list with a fractured right big toe, though he’s not expected to miss more than the 10 days.
Vogelbach went 1-for-2 with a pair of walks.
A couple takeaways:
Like Mike
Mike Leake pitched a solid 6 2/3 innings, allowing one earned run on six hits with no walks.
He induced groundouts, something he was among the best in baseball at a year ago. He forced 14 groundouts to one fly out.
“They key to this run we’ve been on has been our pitching,” Servais said. “Mike Leake was really good tonight. The bullpen was outstanding and has been keeping us in the games.”
The A’s, though, scored their first run after Leake fielded a ground ball to himself in the fourth inning. He turned to second to try to turn a double play, but A’s shortstop Marcus Semien had taken off on the play. Leake tried to reel the ball back in to throw to first, but he lost grip on it and threw it away.
With the bases then loaded, Leake got Matt Chapman to ground into a double play, with Semien scoring. But damage limited.
And the only other run came on what seemed to be a clear rebuttal hit-by-pitch to Mark Canha, the Athletics’ No. 9 hitter, with two outs in the fifth, one inning after the A’s hit Mitch Haniger on his left wrist, forcing him to leave the game.
But then back-to-back singles from Matt Joyce and Semien brought Canha home for a 2-0 Oakland lead.
But how about the Mariners’ starters? Their starting rotation has a 3.42 ERA since April 24. Their 3.51 starter ERA entering the day was the fourth-lowest in the American League during that stretch, just behind the Astros (2.37), Angels (2.80) and Yankees (3.44).
And the Mariners’ bullpen of James Pazos, Nick Vincent and Diaz allowed just one hit over the final 3 1/3 innings of the game, one game after Wade LeBlanc, Ryan Cook, Ryan Cook, Pazos, Dan Altavilla, Juan Nicasio, Diaz and Vincent combined to pitch 10 consecutive scoreless innings in the Mariners’ 3-2 win in 11 innings against the Detroit Tigers.
Z-bomb
Mike Zunino has hit some home runs high and far. This one was lasered.
He smoked a 3-2 fastball with a 111-mph exit velocity over the left field wall. It left the park at a 20-degree launch angle.
That means it screamed over the wall. Compare that launch angle to his game-tying home run against the Angels on May 5, which was towered at a 41-degree launch angle.
It was Zunino’s seventh home run this season and it tied the game after Daniel Vogelbach, who was called up from Triple-A Tacoma earlier in the day, drew a 3-2 walk.
That was the third time in the Mariners’ past four games that the Mariners have come back to tie or take the lead after trailing by two or more runs entering the seventh inning.
Batter hit, again
Mitch Haniger took a 91-mph sinker off of his left wrist in the bottom of the fourth inning, and that was the 29th time a Mariners batter has been hit by a pitch this season.
He had to leave the game an inning later, but the Mariners announced later that X-rays came back negative. He is day-to-day.
But that’s a lot of injuries piling up now. No Dee Gordon (fractured right toe), no Robinson Cano (fractured finger and 80-game drug suspension), no Nelson Cruz (elbow contusion) … now Haniger.
Haniger played in the bottom of the fourth inning in right field, but Andrew Romine took over in his place for the bottom of the fifth after Haniger took the pitch off his wrist from Athletics starter Trevor Cahill.
It came after Nelson Cruz took a fastball off of his elbow in Saturday’s game against the Tigers and didn’t play Sunday. Saturday was Cruz’s first game back since taking a pitch off of his foot in Tuesday’s game against the Texas Rangers and Cano’s finger fractured when he was hit by a pitch on May 13.
The Mariners entered Tuesday’s game tied with the Chicago Cubs for the most batters hit by a pitch in the major leagues.
And then Mariners starter Mike Leake hit A’s left-fielder Mark Canha with two outs in that bottom of the fifth inning – seeming to be a clear rebuttal for the A’s plunking Haniger.
But after back-to-back singles from Matt Joyce and Marcus Semien, Canha then scored to give Oakland a 2-0 lead.
It probably should also be noted that 38-year-old outfielder Jayson Werth, a former All-Star with the Washington Nationals was pulled from Triple-A Tacoma's game against El Paso after two at-bats, going 1-for-1 with an RBI double. Werth is not on the Mariners' 40-man roster.
Play of the game
If Guillermo Heredia hadn’t earned the right to be an everyday center fielder before, he’s making a huge case for it now.
A week after his walk-off hit to beat the Texas Rangers in the 11th inning at Safeco Field, this time Heredia shot a 1-2, 90-mph fastball into center field, making Athletics’ Dustin Fowler range to his right to back-hand it.
But it bounced off of Fowler’s glove, and the brief hiccup was just enough for Mariners’ third-base coach Scott Brosius to wave in Jean Segura all the way from first base.
Segura dived just underneath the tag for the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th inning, though he seemed to hurt his left shoulder on the play after it collided with catcher Jonathan Lucroy’s shin guard on the dive.
Top hitter
Guillermo Heredia and Daniel Vogelbach were the only Mariners to reach base multiple times, both drawing a pair of walks. Heredia, though, gets the nod here for his clutch go-ahead double in the 10th.
Mike Zunino hit his seventh home run, rocketing it over the left-field wall with 111-mph exit velocity.
Top pitcher
Mariners starter Mike Leake was impressive, going 6 2/3 innings and not walking a batter, while striking out three.
He allowed two runs, but one was earned after Marcus Semien eventually scored on Leake’s throwing error in the fourth inning.
And Mark Canha only scored in the fifth after Leake hit him with a pitch, seemingly in retaliation for the A’s hitting Mitch Haniger in the fourth – as well as the fact that the Mariners entered the day tied with the Chicago Cubs for most batters hit by pitches (28) in the major leagues.
Quotable
Jayson Werth, a 38-year-old former All-Star outfielder with the Washington Nationals, left Triple-A Tacoma’s game against El Paso after two at-bats. He’s not on the Mariners’ 40-man roster, so he’d have to be added, but the Mariners do seem to need some help, especially in the outfield.
“I don’t think there’s any team that has an outstanding season without getting a lot of guys contributing from Triple-A,” Servais said. “Guys you don’t expect much from.
“Our position players are banged up right now. Understanding that, we know we need to have enough bodies here (Wednesday).”
TJ Cotterill: 253-597-8677
Twitter: @TJCotterill
This story was originally published May 22, 2018 at 10:06 PM with the headline "No, Gordon, Cano, Cruz, Haniger — no problem. Mariners rally for another extra-innings win."