A pinch runner ends it
Leo Rivas came on in the eighth inning to run for Taylor Ward. Three innings later he was the reason Seattle had a win.
The Mariners beat the Chicago Cubs 6-5 at T-Mobile Park in the opener of a three-game interleague series, and it took until two outs in the bottom of the 10th to settle. Randy Arozarena started the inning as the runner on second. Victor Robles moved him along with a sacrifice bunt. Julio Rodriguez bounced back to the mound. Ryan Zeferjahn then walked Josh Naylor intentionally to get to Rivas, the lightest bat left on the field.
Rivas lined an 0-1 sweeper into centre field. Arozarena scored from third. Nobody in Seattle cared how it looked.
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Bregman had already flipped it
Chicago had every reason to expect a different ending. Alex Bregman homered twice, the second a solo shot with one out in the ninth off closer Andres Munoz that tied the game at 5-5. Pete Crow-Armstrong opened the night with a towering drive to right-centre. Ian Happ went deep off Eduard Bazardo in the eighth. Four home runs for the visitors, and not one of them decisive.
The Cubs led 3-0 after one inning against Emerson Hancock, Crow-Armstrong leading off and Bregman following a Michael Busch double with a two-run shot down the left field line. Seattle answered in the second. Cal Raleigh drove a three-run blast to deep left-centre off Matthew Boyd, who grew up on Mercer Island a short drive from the ballpark, and Brendan Donovan’s single two batters later put the Mariners in front.
A balk, an ejection, a wild-card slide
The fifth inning produced the oddest sequence of the night. Brock Rodden reached on a throwing error by Nico Hoerner, advanced to second on a balk and scored on an Arozarena bloop to shallow centre for 5-3. Craig Counsell was ejected by plate umpire Brennan Miller between the fifth and sixth for arguing that balk call.
Seranthony Dominguez (5-3) worked a scoreless top of the 10th for the win. Zeferjahn (4-4) took the loss. Hancock lasted 5 2/3 innings with six strikeouts and no walks, while Boyd gave up five runs, four earned, on six hits over six.
Seattle have won four of their last six. Chicago have dropped two straight, and their cushion over Philadelphia for the National League’s top wild card is down to three games.
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