Mariners top Diamondbacks in finale, head into final homestand with consecutive wins
Behind the bats of a few new cast members, the Mariners collected a series win Sunday at Chase Field in Phoenix, topping the Diamondbacks, 7-3, to wrap up this short road trip with consecutive wins.
“End of the trip, trying to end it on a positive note, winning this series — I thought we did a lot of really good things offensively, and certainly our bullpen really picked us up today,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said on a postgame video call.
With two weeks left to play in this condensed regular season, Seattle (21-25) now sits two games back of the Astros for second place in the American League West. Houston was scheduled to play the Dodgers later Sunday night.
The Mariners now return home for their final 10-game homestand back on the right track, thanks in large part Sunday to several recent additions.
Rookie infielder Donovan Walton, recalled from the team’s alternate site in place of J.P. Crawford, who is on the bereavement list, notched a career-high three RBI in the win.
“Getting a chance to come back in the big leagues and play for the big club again, all you try to do is just do anything you can to help the team win, and that was all I was focused on,” Walton said.
Rookie Jose Marmolejos, who has been heating up since rejoining the Mariners for their doubleheader against the Padres at the end of August, logged two more hits and drove in a run.
And recent acquisition Phillip Ervin pushed across another as Seattle got contributions up and down the lineup.
Marmolejos doubled in the first to drive in Kyle Seager, who drew a two-out walk, giving the Mariners a lead they never lost.
Walton’s groundout in the second scratched across another run, and his first career double in the sixth drove in two more and gave the Mariners a 4-1 lead.
“He’s always in the game mentally,” Servais said. “Was certainly looking for a pitch up that he could drive. He got one, and it might have been the biggest hit in the ballgame to create some separation there.
“You see that game playing out, and it’s really hard to think that you’re going to win that game 2-1. We knew we had to do more offensively, and he got a huge hit for us.”
After Arizona cut the lead back to one run in the seventh, Ervin stretched it to two again on a double to left in the eighth, and the Mariners scored one more in the frame on a wild pitch.
Kyle Lewis, who pinch ran in the eighth and scored a run, hit a sac fly in the ninth to give Seattle one more insurance run and make it 7-3.
Mariners rookie Justin Dunn entered the afternoon looking to build on his past three starts — he had allowed two runs across his past 18 innings in three straight quality outings — but struggled from the outset.
He walked the first batter he faced to open his outing before Josh VanMeter ripped a single, scoring a run and erasing Seattle’s early 1-0 lead. Dunn walked another in the inning before working out of the jam, but his pitch count quickly climbed to 28.
The second inning wasn’t much better. Dunn didn’t allow another run, but he walked the bases loaded with one out, and his pitch count soared to 66. Though Dunn ultimately struck out the side to end the threat, the Mariners turned to the bullpen for the final seven innings, using six relievers to close out the win.
“Just one of those days,” Dunn said. “I definitely think there was some mechanical stuff in there, but the closest way to put it was just that’s what I felt like in my debut and I just wasn’t able to slow it down again and get things under control.
“I was able to do it a couple times this year when things kind of sped up, but for some reason tonight I wasn’t able to step off and take a deep breath. Luckily, I was fortunate enough to make a couple pitches there in the second to get us out of that or else it could have gotten ugly, so very thankful for that.”
Casey Sadler tossed a pair of scoreless innings in the third and fourth, acting as something of a stabilizer for Seattle.
“Huge couple innings there,” Servais said. “I thought he threw the ball really well.”
Joey Gerber then coolly worked through the fifth. Anthony Misiewicz breezed through the sixth, but his second inning in the seventh unraveled. Two base hits and a walk loaded the bases with no outs, and the Mariners brought in Kendall Graveman to try to clean up the jam.
A fielder’s choice scored one run, and sac fly scored another before Graveman struck out David Peralta to end the threat with the Mariners still clinging to a 4-3 lead.
“He was very efficient and got us out of that inning with the lead, and that’s what we were hoping for, to give our offense the chance to tack on a little bit more,” Servais said.
Yohan Ramirez pitched a clean eighth and Yoshihisa Hirano quickly worked through the ninth with the help of a pair of solid catches by Ervin in right field, including a diving grab for the second out.
The Mariners open their final homestand of the season Monday with a doubleheader against the A’s. The Giants, Padres and Astros are also due in town during the homestand.
This story was originally published September 13, 2020 at 4:42 PM.
