SEATTLE _ The walk continues to dog Dinelson Lamet as he attempts to transition from Tommy John patient to full-time, unbridled starting pitcher. The Seattle Mariners, these days, just aren't in much of a position to make anyone pay for mistakes.
The 27-year-old right-hander took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning in his sixth start back from elbow reconstruction, tying a career-high with 12 strikeouts in a 9-4 win Tuesday night at T-Mobile Park.
The flirtation with the first no-hitter in San Diego Padres history _ even with Lamet walking a season-high four batters _ shouldn't have come as all that much of a surprise.
Seattle has been no-hit twice this year _ in a span of 23 days, no less _ by combined efforts from Angels and Astros pitchers and Tuesday's bid would have been a similar team-up given where Lamet is at on his comeback trail.
He'd topped out at 88 pitches before throwing 104 on Tuesday, had allowed at least two runs in each of his first five starts and hadn't pitched past the fifth inning before Padres manager Andy Green gave him a hearty look at franchise history.
Nobody was even warming in the bullpen when catcher Omar Narvaez pulled a one-out, one-strike fastball into right field in the seventh inning to squash Lamet's bid for a no-hitter. Kyle Seager followed with a double but Lamet got the final two outs of the inning to hand a 5-0 lead over to his bullpen.
A five-run fifth _ punctuated by Fernando Tatis Jr.'s 20th homer off former Padres left-hander Wade LeBlanc (5 IP, 5 ER) _ helped Lamet settle into cruise control in search of his first win since Aug. 15, 2017.
Lamet issued all four of his walks through his first three innings before piling up 10 strikeouts over his last five frames. He struck out three batters after walking the leadoff hitter in the third, punched out the side in the fifth and retired 13 in a row before Narvaez's seventh-inning single.
First baseman Eric Hosmer drove in two runs in the eighth on his 17th homer and designated hitter Josh Naylor added his fourth homer via an opposite-field job that inning, giving rookie Adrian Morejon just the cushion he needed.
The Cuban left-hander allowed four runs on four hits, including Tim Lopes' first big-league homer, in pushing his ERA to 10.13 through his first eight innings in the majors.
Wil Myers added a run-scoring single in the ninth.
