SEATTLE _ Here's the easiest possible way to understand the Mariners' eight-run third inning on Sunday.
Mallex Smith walks. J.P. Crawford singles. Domingo Santana singles. Smith scores. Daniel Vogelbach walks. Omar Narvaez flies out. Crawford scores. Kyle Seager walks. Pitching change. Doesn't matter. Austin Nola singles. Santana scores. Mac Williamson gets hit by pitch. Vogelbach scores. Dee Gordon singles. Seager scores. Smith singles. Nola scores. Crawford singles (again). Williamson scores. Gordon scores. Santana strikes out. Vogelbach flies out. Curtains.
See? Simple. But you didn't come here for simple. You came for context. You came for color. You came for details that stretch beyond the box score of a 13-3 Mariners win over Baltimore.
Take Crawford, for example. After the Seattle shortstop's first single of the inning, he clapped his hands so hard you could hear it from the crowd. Each of his first four plate appearances resulted in a hit, and the first three coincidentally came on 93 mph fastballs. His solo homer in the first inning traveled 427 feet at 107 mph. It screamed into the seats before the streaking 24-year-old could trot halfway to first.
He finished 4-for-4 with four RBIs and two runs scored, in undoubtedly the best offensive performance of his brief big league career.
Or what about those bungling Baltimore pitchers? Gabriel Ynoa and Matt Wotherspoon combined to throw 56 pitches and allow 11 baserunners in the third inning alone. At one point, six consecutive Mariners reached base _ and none managed more than a single. You might want to avert your eyes from Ynoa's final line: 2 1/3 innings pitched, five hits, three walks, seven earned runs.
The number eight, for whatever reason, has echoed through the first half of Seattle's forgettable 2019 season. The Mariners' eight-run third inning tied their highest output of the year (while also tying the mark for their most runs allowed).
When Vogelbach finally flew out to end the Mariner marathon, the 250-pound slab of concrete spiked his bat into the turf with such force that it's a miracle it didn't stick.
Early in the inning, it started to rain. And then the Mariners made it pour.
And that avalanche of runs provided needed relief for Seattle starter Yusei Kikuchi, who allowed five hits, five walks and three earned runs in six innings to claim his first win since May 19. After throwing 48 pitches and surrendering four walks, three hits and two runs in his first two innings, Kikuchi settled down and delivered a quality start.
The two relievers Seattle recalled from Triple-A Tacoma on Sunday _ Matt Carasiti and Mike Wright _ each made their mark as well. Carasiti allowed just one hit while striking out the side in his Mariners debut, while Wright scattered a hit and two strikeouts in two innings of scoreless work.
In the end, every starting Seattle position player scored a run on Sunday. One game _ and one inning _ served as an explosive outlier in an otherwise dreary season.
