PHOENIX — Hey, it wasn’t a one-run victory.
Though for a while it sure seemed like the Mariners were intent on finding a way to make it the most minimal of deficits for the Diamondbacks.
But Kyle Seager, the elder statesman of the team at age 33, provided a reprieve from the late-inning drama for a night.
In what might be his final season with the organization, Seager continues to give the Mariners reasons to bring him back for one more season.
On Saturday, he belted a pair of three-run homers to power the Mariners to an 8-5 victory against the Diamondbacks.
His three-run blast off lefty Caleb Smith broke a 5-5 tie in the sixth inning and the Mariners’ shutdown bullpen did the rest, holding Arizona scoreless.
From almost his first pitch of the night, it was a battle for Mariners starter Marco Gonzales to keep pitches out of the middle of the zone, keep runners off the bases and keep his team in the game.
The Mariners handed him a 3-0 lead after the top of the first inning. Facing right-handed starter Humberto Castellanos, J.P. Crawford, who went 4 for 5, led off the game with a single to center. Mitch Haniger followed with a line-drive single to right-center. And Seager? Well, he ambushed a first-pitch change-up, sending a line drive over the wall in right-center for his 32nd homer of the season.
Gonzales gave back the three runs back and a bonus one in the bottom of the inning. After a one-out walk, he let a 1-2 change-up leak over the middle of the plate to Carson Kelly, who turned it into a two-run homer.
With two outs, a hit batter, a bloop double and another hit batter loaded the bases for Arizona. Former Seattle Prep standout Stuart Fairchild gave the Diamondbacks a 4-3 lead with a two-run double to left field.
The Mariners retook the lead in the fourth inning. After a Jarred Kelenic leadoff single and a Jose Marmolejos double to right field off Castellanos, it appeared the Mariners would squander the opportunity when Cal Raleigh and Gonzales each struck out.
With two outs and Crawford, who by that time had two hits in the game, coming to the plate, Arizona went to lefty Caleb Smith. The lefty vs. lefty strategy didn’t matter as Crawford yanked a single into right field to score both runs.
Gonzales couldn’t keep the one-run lead for even a half an inning. Old friend Ketel Marte was able to take a pitch off the outside of the plate and drive it to the right-field corner, just over the wall for a game-tying solo homer.
