The game was decided in the bottom of the 11th when Julio Rodriguez stepped to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded and his team down a run.
With chilled remainders of the crowd of 18,206 standing and cheering in anticipation, the Mariners’ young superstar hit a hard ground ball right to Milwaukee shortstop Willy Adames, who flipped the ball to second base for the final out of a 6-5 win for the Brewers.
But with the Mariners' offense basically absent, the game was lost long before Rodriguez stepped to the plate.
With two outs in the third inning, designated hitter Tommy La Stella looped soft liner into left field off Brewers starter Colin Rea that couldn’t be caught by the diving attempt of outfielder Christian Yelich. It capped a four-run third inning and gave Seattle a 4-3 lead.
It was the first RBI generated by the Mariners’ designated hitter position this season, which is a whole other issue, but also remains relevant to Tuesday’s loss and several others this season.
La Stella’s single would also be the last hit the Mariners would register until two outs in the 10th inning.
After Ty France tied the game with sac fly to score Kolten Wong, Eugenio Suarez reached on a two-out infield single and Cal Raleigh followed with a single to left. The Mariners had the winning run in scoring position. But Teoscar Hernandez struck out on three pitches from right-hander Bryse Wilson to end the inning.
The Mariners wouldn’t get another hit the rest of the way. So the only two hits Seattle would get after the third inning didn’t lead to a run in any way.
“They’ve got a good club,” manager Scott Servais said. “They shut us down there. We’ve done that to teams in the past as well. But you need to find a way to create a little bit more offense there. We put the one inning together and that was it until we started with a man on second in the 10th.”
The Mariners went 22 plate appearances without getting a hit. A leadoff walk in the sixth was erased immediately with a double play. A two-out walk in the ninth only prolonged the inning by one batter.
“The consistency offensively hasn’t been there. You know, we’ve had a certain game here or there and we’ll put something together and get a couple guys going. Good. But you know it wasn’t there tonight for sure.
It’s indicative of a lineup that is flawed with struggling hitters and consistent producers and three or four players having to carry the offensive load.
The Brewers were able to pick up a run in the 10th. With Garrett Mitchell as the automatic runner on second to start the inning, Victor Caratini ripped a hard one-hopper to France. Instead of just letting Mitchell have third, France fired across the diamond, but his throw was just off and Eugenio Suarez couldn’t make the tag in time. Milwaukee scored moments later when Brice Turang hit into a double play.
The Mariners were able to tie the game when automatic runner Kolten Wong advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on France’s sac fly to center off right-hander Bryse Wilson.
Seattle kept the inning alive with two outs. Eugenio Suarez reached on an infield single — the Mariners first hit since two outs in the third inning. Raleigh followed with a single to left-center. But with the winning run on second base, Teoscar Hernandez struck out looking on three pitches to end the 10th inning.
Seattle got an eventful start from Logan Gilbert, who pitched six innings, allowing four runs on five hits with no walks and eight strikeouts.
His battle with Christian Yelich was an indicator of how things would be for much of the early innings. Gilbert got up 1-2 but wasn’t able to put away the one-time National League MVP. He fired a pair of wayward misses and then left a 3-2 fastball in the middle of the plate that Yelich deposited into Edgar’s Cantina for his fifth career leadoff homer.
While Gilbert would retire the next six hitters, he went to full counts with five of them. He threw 28 pitches in the first inning and 20 in the second inning.
Milwaukee pushed the lead to 3-0 in the third inning, taking advantage of some pitches in the strike zone. No. 9 hitter Owen Miller doubled into the left-center gap and immediately scored when Yelich singled to right. Willy Adames capped the scoring with a double into the left-field corner.
In their second time through the order against Milwaukee starter Colin Rea, the Mariners finally started to generate some offense. Rodriguez ripped a one-out single into left field for his second hit of the game and France followed with a ground ball through the left side. The Mariners got a bit of a scare when Suarez took a 91 mph fastball off the point of his elbow and crumpled to the ground in pain. He remained in the game.
With the bases loaded, Raleigh doubled into right field to score a pair of runners and Hernandez launched a fly ball deep into center for a sac fly that tied the game at 3.
Given a one-run lead, Gilbert reset his outing. He worked a 1-2-3 top of the fourth and retired the side in order in the fifth.
But with one out in the sixth, he fired a 94-mph fastball at the top of the strike zone that Adames was able to stay on top of, driving it over in the right field for a game-tying solo homer.
____
