SEATTLE _ The concern of taking a three-day hiatus during an already truncated season would be losing the rhythm that players find in the everyday nature of a Major League Baseball season.
But that brief break didn't seem to affect on the Mariners. Instead, it seemed to have them recharged for the final three weeks of the season.
Left-hander Yusei Kikuchi delivered an outstanding performance and J.P. Crawford smoked a three-run homer in the eighth inning to turn a close game into what should have been an easy victory over the Texas Rangers. However, veteran right-hander Yoshihisa Hirano gave up a pair of runs and allowed the tying run to come to the plate in the ninth before finishing out a 6-3 victory.
It was the Mariners' third consecutive win, but first since Monday.
After Oakland pitcher Daniel Mengden tested positive for COVID-19 in Houston on Friday night, the three-game series vs. the Oakland A's that was supposed to open this homestand on Tuesday was postponed. It left the Mariners with some free time. Mariners manager Scott Servais gave his team the day off Monday, allowing the players to recharge after an emotional road trip that featured a game postponed in protest and the anxiety of the MLB trade deadline.
Kikuchi, who was supposed to start Wednesday and hadn't pitched since Aug. 27, looked first-start-of-the-season strong.
He worked six innings, allowing just one run on two hits with no walks and seven strikeouts. In 89 pitches, he threw 52 strikes. While he only got seven first-pitch strikes to the 19 batters he faced, he came back in those 12 1-0 counts with strikes in six of them.
With a fastball that consistently touched 97 mph and solid command of his breaking pitches, Kikuchi retired the first 10 batters he faced. Isiah Kiner-Falefa broke up the string with a ground ball single through the left side that just got past the glove of a diving J.P. Crawford. But Kiner-Falefa was quickly erased when Kikuchi got Nick Solak to ground into an inning-ending double play.
The Mariners gave him a limited amount of run support.
In his first at-bat for the Mariners after being acquired from the Padres, designated hitter Ty France singled up the middle off starter Kyle Cody, scoring Kyle Seager from second for a 1-0 lead in the second inning.
The Mariners pushed the lead to 3-0 in the fourth inning. Facing lefty John King, who was making his MLB debut, the Mariners loaded the bases when Seager was hit by a pitch, France walked and Jose Marmolejos singled to right.
The one run allowed came in the fifth inning when the Mariners were leading 3-0. Kikuchi gave up just his second homer this season, throwing a 90-mph cutter that found the barrel of Jose Trevino's bat and turned into a deep solo homer into left field.
Kikuchi retired the next five batters to end his outing.
In a positive sign for his and the team's future, right-hander Kendall Graveman made his first appearances in his new role as a reliever. After going on the injured list on Aug. 3 with neck spasms and revealing that he's been dealing with a benign bone tumor in his neck that can't be fixed with surgery, Graveman and the Mariners' medical and coaching staff decided to try pitching him out of the bullpen in shorter stints since the discomfort becomes an issue the longer he would pitch.
Replacing Kikuchi to start the seventh and having plenty of time to warm up, Graveman worked a smooth 1-2-3 seventh. Obviously excited to be out pitching, his nasty sinker sat from 95-97 and he uncorked a fastball at 99 mph. After getting two ground ball outs, he won a seven-pitch battle with the Rangers' left-handed slugger Joey Gallo. On a 3-2 count, Graveman threw a nasty 97-mph sinker that appeared to be headed for Gallo's hip but dropped into the strike zone. Gallo was frozen for a called strike three.
