The hard-throwing youngster and former Rule 5 draft pick, who has spent much of the season riding the shuttle back and forth between Tacoma and Seattle — a distance that feels farther in baseball metaphor than physical distance somehow gave them a do-over in extra innings.
The veteran third baseman, who has never tasted the postseason in his 11-year MLB career spent entirely in Seattle and might not return year for No. 12, made sure the second chance at an extra-innings win and a series sweep, on a day when ground there was a chance to gain ground in the wild card race, didn’t get wasted.
Yohan Ramirez pitched the Mariners out of looming defeat in the bottom of the 10th, despite Arizona having a runner on third with no outs. And Kyle Seager put the Mariners ahead for good, ripping a two-run double down the right field line, which ignited a rout-producing six-run top of the 11th inning and an eventual 10-4 victory and three-game sweep of the Diamondbacks, who looked as bad as their 45-93 record.
It was a big day for the Seattle’s quest to end the longest current postseason drought in professional sports, dating 2001. While the Mariners improved to 75-62, three of the four teams they are competing for one of the two wild card spots lost. The Yankees, who currently hold the first wild card spot, lost to Baltimore, 8-7, to fall to 78-58 on the season. New York lost the three-game series to the worst team in baseball. The Red Sox, who came into the day holding the second wild card spot, were drubbed 11-5 by Cleveland. Boston (79-60) sits a half-game behind the Yankees.
The Mariners moved ahead of the A’s (74-63), who were shut out by the streaking Blue Jays, 8-0 and now trail the Red Sox by three games and the Yankees by 3.5 games. Toronto (73-62) sits a game a half game back of Seattle.
And there is another race to add into the mix and minds of the Mariners and their fans. With a 4-3 loss to the Padres, Houston (79-57) sits just four games ahead of the Mariners. The two teams open a three-game series at Minute Maid Park on Monday. Somewhere Jay Buhner is once again cursing the notion of settling for the wild card.
And while the victory adds some spice to the delicious drama of September baseball, it’s impossible to not consider how close the Mariners were to losing that game and squandering the serendipity of the day. They were 90 feet from defeat to be exact.
After failing to score a run in the top of the 10th, having Jarred Kelenic thrown out at third on Dylan Moore’s sac bunt attempt and Moore later getting thrown out a second on stolen base, the Mariners watched as Arizona executed in the bottom of the 10th.
A sac bunt moved Andrew Young, the designated runner to start the inning to third base. Desperate for a strikeout, Ramirez punched out pinch-hitter Christian Walker and then got Josh Rojas, the D’Backs best hitter to pop out to J.P. Crawford for the third out.
Seattle got another solid start from Chris Flexen in a season filled with them.
Flexen pitched six innings, allowing three runs on four hits with two walks and four strikeouts. But as he stalked off the mound in the after the sixth inning, clearly frustrated with himself, the runs three runs scored in the inning and baseball in general, it was clear he felt the outing could have been so much more.
He held the Diamondbacks scoreless for the first five innings, allowing just one hit — Josh Van Meter’s leadoff bunt single against the shift to start the second inning. After a one-out walk later in the second inning, Flexen retired the next 11 batters he faced.
His teammates provided him with a whole two runs of support for his effort in the first six innings. In the fourth inning, Mitch Haniger drew a leadoff walk and advanced to third on Ty France’s second single of the game. The D’Backs gave Seattle some help when Kyle Seager hit a hard groundball to first baseman Pavin Smith. Instead of trying to turn a double play, Smith saw Haniger get a big jump from third and fired home. But the ball went sailing to the backstop. Haniger scrambled back to third and the bases were loaded with no outs. Abraham Toro drove in Haniger with a groundball to second base and Tom Murphy made it 2-0 on a sac fly to right field.
Flexen lost that lead in the sixth inning. He gave up a leadoff double to Josh Rojas and a later a one-out RBI double to Smith, who yanked a 1-1 cutter that sat in the bottom of the strike zone into the right field corner. It left the ever-intense, gum-chomping Flexen shaking his head in anger.
That irritation would grow when he left a first-pitch fastball in the middle of the plate to veteran left-handed hitter David Peralta. The one-time Silver Slugger, who has battled injuries in his career, will still hammer those type of mistakes. He sent it into the left-field seats for a two-run homer and a 3-2 lead.
The Mariners got the run back immediately, but it felt a little unsatisfying. Abraham Toro led off with a double to left field and Tom Murphy followed with a single to put runners on the corner. Jarred Kelenic hit a hard groundball, but it was right at second baseman Andrew Young, who turned it into a double play that allowed Toro to score. Kelenic wasn’t awarded an RBI and the Mariners didn’t get another run in the inning.
