Mariners melt down in seventh, Padres walk off in first game of doubleheader
The Mariners had two outs, no runners on base and a four-run lead in the seventh inning Thursday afternoon in San Diego, in the first game of a doubleheader at Petco Park.
They lost 10-7.
It was about as deflating as a walk-off loss can be.
“Two out, nobody on, you’ve got to nail it down there,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said on a postgame video call before heading back to the field for the second game of the afternoon against the Padres.
“We gave them just a little crack, a little light that they could see, and then they jumped in there and took advantage of it.”
The Padres, twice down to their final strike, strung together seven runs in the inning, and eventually closed out the late rally with a three-run, walk-off blast by Wil Myers to stun Seattle.
The loss ended a four-game winning streak for the Mariners (12-20).
Seattle’s 7-3 lead rapidly unraveled in the seventh. Camas High School product Taylor Williams, one of the Mariners’ more reliable relievers this season, recorded the first two outs of the inning with ease, but everything fell apart after that.
Williams hit Austin Hedges with a pitch, and walked both Trent Grisham and Fernando Tatis Jr. to load the bases.
Manny Machado then sent a line drive into left to score a pair of runs. A passed ball moved the two remaining runners up a base, and a wild pitch scored Tatis. Eric Hosmer then singled in another run to tie the game.
Williams, who hadn’t allowed a run in his past seven outings, was ultimately tagged with a season-high five and his first loss, and was lifted from the game at that point.
“Williams has been great for us,” Servais said. “Any role that we put him in, certainly he’s worked his way toward the back end of that bullpen just because of the job he’s done. He didn’t have great feel for the slider today. Thought he had enough to get through it, obviously it wasn’t quite enough.”
Dan Altavilla was called in from the bullpen, but couldn’t extend the game to extra innings. Jake Cronenworth singled, and Myers then smacked a slider over the left field fence for the walk-off homer.
“Crazy inning,” Servais said. “All of the stuff that happened there, with all of the positive stuff that we did offensively, just gets kind of swept under the rug there when we weren’t able to close them out.”
With the score tied at 3-3 entering the seventh, the Mariners grabbed a four-run lead.
Dee Gordon pinch hit to lead off the inning, and reached on a bunt single. J.P. Crawford was then hit by a pitch, and Sam Haggerty sent a single into right for the go-ahead run.
Two more singles from Kyle Lewis and Kyle Seager scored two more runs before the Mariners even recorded an out in the inning. Austin Nola scratched across Seattle’s final run on a sac fly.
“We’ve been playing excellent baseball, we really have,” Servais said. “Couldn’t be any happier with our effort, and certainly everything that kind of went on yesterday, we came out today and I thought we were locked right in.”
The Mariners took the game’s first lead with a three-run fourth inning. Seager walked to open the frame and stole second before Jose Marmolejos jumped a fastball from Padres starter Dinelson Lamet and sent it over the center field fence to make it 2-0.
It was Marmolejos’ second homer of the season, and first since rejoining the club from its alternate training site it Tacoma. Marmolejos was added to the five-man traveling taxi squad ahead of this road trip, and was named the 29th man for Thursday’s doubleheader.
He had only entered the game minutes earlier, taking the place of first baseman Evan White, who left the game with discomfort in his right shoulder following his first at-bat.
White appeared to grab at the area following his swing on a pop up to short. Servais said postgame White was dealing with soreness in the shoulder after diving for a ball in the series opener Tuesday, felt discomfort on the swing, and will be further evaluated.
“He was a little bit sore yesterday,” Servais said. “Obviously tried to give it a go today. He felt it in that first at-bat, the swing he put on there. We’ll have him checked out.”
Jake Fraley followed up Marmolejos’ homer with a single, stole second and scored on a Shed Long Jr. base hit to right.
But, the Mariners’ lead evaporated by the sixth, courtesy of three Padres solo home runs. Machado slugged the first of his two solo homers off Mariners starter Ljay Newsome in the fourth. His second, off reliever Matt Magill, tied the game at 3-3 in the sixth.
Machado and Tatis went back-to-back off Magill in the sixth, both homering on curveballs left out over the plate. Tatis, who has a majors-leading 13 homers, crushed the first pitch he saw onto the roof in left field. Machado blasted the second pitch he saw to center.
The two sixth-inning homers erased the opportunity for Newsome to pick up his first big league win. Filling in for scheduled starter Taijuan Walker, who was traded to the Blue Jays earlier in the day, Newsome worked four efficient innings, allowing one run on three hits with no walks and four strikeouts on 60 pitches.
“Basically when I showed up at 9 a.m., Skip told me I was starting the game,” Newsome said. “I had my routine for starting, I’ve been starting in the past, so it was a pretty simple adjustment for me.”
Newsome, in only his second appearance since his debut a week ago, and in his first big league start, retired the first seven batters he faced, including striking out Tatis and Cronenworth — he struck out both twice in his outing — before San Diego recorded its first hit.
Newsome’s only mistake was a fastball left over the middle in the fourth, which Machado promptly buried in center field.
“He did a great job for us,” Servais said. “He really did. A ton of credit to Ljay. He is who he is. He makes pitches, he keeps throwing strikes, he stays after them. Was really, really happy with the effort he gave us today, and he’ll continue to learn.
“That’s his first start ever in the big leagues against a really good team. He just gave up the one home run to Machado and that was it. Other than that, I couldn’t have been any happier. He did an outstanding job for us.”
This story was originally published August 27, 2020 at 3:14 PM.
