Mike Leake spiked, but Mariners had something going, again, late in Arizona

Spike got spiked.

That, and little offense behind Mike “Spike” Leake, was the difference in this Seattle Mariners 5-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday.

The Mariners still took two out of three games against a club that entered Friday leading the National League West standings.

Meanwhile, the Mariners (74-57) continue to have a hard time gaining ground in this win-loaded top of the American League West. The Astros won to take a 6.5-game lead on the Mariners atop the division and the Athletics won to move 5.5 games ahead for the AL’s second wild card.

So a good series for the Mariners, but not much to show for in in the standings.

“It’s part of the game,” Leake told reporters afterward. “There’s ups and downs. It’s what you learn throughout your career. It’s part of it. You just got to keep doing your job.”

The Mariners exit this MLB Player’s Weekend (hence the nicknames on the back of their jerseys) and get an off day Monday before heading to San Diego for two games and then a big series in Oakland for four more.

“We made a mistake,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “Tried to get the ball in to open the outer part of the plate. Just didn’t get it quite enough in and he’s obviously an accomplished hitter who made us pay.”

Mariners pitching had bottled slugger Paul Goldschmidt up for almost all of this series until he got ahold of an 89-mph sinker from Leake and launched it for a three-run home run for his 30th of the season and a four-run D-Backs lead in the third inning.

Leake had thrown 11 consecutive scoreless innings over his previous two starts before that five-run third inning.

Otherwise Arizona had nothing else on him in six innings.

That was plenty.

But just hours after the Mariners rallied for two runs in the ninth inning of their extra-innings win Saturday night, they put something together again in the ninth on Sunday.

Ben Gamel scored after a leadoff single when Dee Gordon’s line drive to left field careened off of the heel of David Peralta’s glove. Nelson Cruz then was the tying run at the plate with no outs when he pinch hit for reliever Roenis Elias.

Cruz fell behind 1-2, but drew a walk to load the bases for the Mariners’ hottest hitter this series – Mitch Haniger.

Haniger was 6-for-13 this series up to that final at-bat in the ninth inning and he earlier Sunday just missed his third home run in as many games (settling for a double off of the wall in center field, instead) in his return to Chase Field. He made his big league debut there with the Diamondbacks before heading to Seattle with Jean Segura in a trade before last season.

So with the bases loaded in the ninth Haniger rocketed a shot with 105-mph exit velocity down the third-base line.

Only Eduardo Escobar lowered his glove and caught it, then almost doubled up Chris Herrmann at third base.

There was still one out for Robinson Cano, but he grounded into a game-ending double play.

The Mariners were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position. In comparison, Arizona was 3-for-4.

That was after it started so well for the Mariners.

Kyle Seager hit the game-tying two-run double in the ninth inning in Saturday’s 10-inning win and he followed that with an RBI single to score Mitch Haniger with two outs in the first inning on Sunday.

That helped erase a little of what has been a disastrous month for him offensively. Seager entered the day batting .188 in 22 games in August.

But without Cruz – despite his pleading, the 38-year-old did not start in the Mariners outfield in the NL park for the second consecutive day – the Mariners offense mustered little else against Arizona starter Zach Greinke.

The 34-year-old Greinke in 6 2/3 innings allowed the one run, which was unearned because Haniger reached on an error from former Mariners shortstop Ketel Marte, with two walks and six strikeouts to lower his season ERA to 2.93.

He also helped kickstart the Diamondbacks’ run in the third inning. He followed Jeff Mathis’ one-out single with one of his own before Jon Jay’s single loaded the bases against Leake.

A.J. Pollock tied the game with a sacrifice fly and Leake looked to be out of the inning when David Peralta hit a slow ground ball. It just got past Leake and Jean Segura charged to field it, but it rolled out of his glove, though Peralta was likely safe at first even if Segura fielded it cleanly.

It allowed Greinke to score and that set up two on and two outs for Goldschmidt. He was 1-for-10 against the Mariners to that point this series despite entering with a .414 average and six home runs over his previous 15 games.

He was due.

And he sent the inside sinker over the left-field wall for a no-doubt three-run homer.

Backbreaker.

“It was in and elevated,” Leake said. “It was a good spot for him to be quick with his hands and notice it right out of the hand.

“But, I mean, literally that’s the only pitch that I guess you would take back.”

That was the first time Leake had allowed five or more runs in a start since July 10 against the Angels. Over his previous six starts Leake had a 2.52 ERA in 39 innings pitched. But this was his first outing since he missed his last scheduled start last week when he was scratched just a few hours before the game with an illness.

This story was originally published August 26, 2018 at 4:01 PM.